JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s central bank is prepared to stabilize the rupiah, including by intervening if there is excessive volatility, an official said on Wednesday after the currency weakened in response to incoming U.S. election results. Fitra Jusdiman, director at Bank Indonesia’s Monetary and Securities Asset Management Department, told Reuters that the rupiah’s decline to a three-month low against the US dollar reflected sentiment over the US election.
“The current market development is currently dominated by US election sentiment, which for now points to a potential victory for presidential candidate Donald Trump,” he said.
“This has led to broad strengthening of the US dollar against most other currencies,” he said.
The rupiah fell as much as 0.7% against the dollar to 15,840, its weakest level since August 13, LSEG data showed.
Bank Indonesia (BI) kept interest rates steady at its October policy meeting as it focused on rupiah stability amid rising tensions in the Middle East and to keep inflation under control. The next policy decision is scheduled for November 20.
