VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian government soon will realize the import limit policy for 900 consumption goods. This policy is aimed to strengthen economic fundamentals by reducing payment balance deficit. The ever-expanding Indonesian payment balance deficit turned into negative sentiments for the market players. This also contributed to the Rupiah weakening against USD. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani in Jakarta on Tuesday affirmed the legal basis for 900 consumption goods import limit had been readied in the form of Finance Minister Regulation. According to Sri Mulyani, her ministry will announce it on Wednesday or Thursday.//

Amidst global pressure which affected Rupiah exchange against USD, the government ensured Indonesian economic fundamentals remained strong against the turbulence. The only weakness is on the current account, which is 3 percent deficit. That was less than in 2014 which was 4.2 percent. Government kept strengthening real sector such as tourism, mining, and export. Economic Coordinating Minister Darmin Nasution after having a meeting with President Joko Widodo at the State Palace, Jakarta on Tuesday said macroeconomic policy was also effective. Nasution said, the economic fundamentals could be seen from the growth in 2^nd quarter of 2018 amounting to 5.2 percent and the inflation per August was 3.2 percent. Darmin Nasution also asked the people not to compare current flux of Rupiah against USD with the 1998 crisis.//

Many pressures, both domestically and internationally, kept weakening the Rupiah. It is time to look for the best solution to maintain the exchange rate and the stability. In the spot market trade closing on Tuesday, Rupiah exchange rate was closed weakening 0.81 percent into RP 14,935 per USD or almost touching the psychologist level Rp 15,000 per USD. Government and related authorities had been striving to maintain Rupiah via a number of policies including monetary, fiscal and real. However, that had yet to maximally keep Rupiah from slumping further.//