Rupiah Hits All-Time Low, Finance Minister Purbaya Issues Warning to Speculators

JAKARTA, Investortrust.id — The rupiah sinks to its weakest level on record on Tuesday, Jan 20, 2026 in Jakarta, with Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa insisting the decline remains manageable and warning currency speculators not to hold excessive long positions in the US dollar.

Based on Bank Indonesia’s Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate, the rupiah closes at Rp 16,981 per US dollar, weakening from Rp 16,935 a day earlier and marking the lowest closing level in its history.

The currency also briefly touches Rp 16,997 per dollar in the Jakarta interbank spot market before strengthening slightly to close around Rp 16,956 per dollar.

Despite the rupiah having depreciated 1.53 percent year to date, Purbaya says Indonesia’s economic fundamentals remain strong and should eventually support the currency.

“So if we continue to safeguard and improve our economy going forward, the rupiah will tend to strengthen,” Purbaya says in Jakarta. “So for speculators, do not take positions that are too long.”

At the current level, the rupiah has moved well beyond the 2026 state budget macro assumption of Rp 16,500 per dollar, increasing pressure on market sentiment.

Before Tuesday’s record, the rupiah previously hit an intraday low of Rp 17,107 per dollar on April 24, 2025, although it later closed stronger at Rp 16,865 per dollar.

During the Asian financial crisis of 1997–1998, the rupiah collapsed to around Rp 16,650–16,800 per dollar on June 17, 1998, while the Covid-19 pandemic also pushed the currency to Rp 16,575–16,600 per dollar in March 2020.

Purbaya reiterates that coordinated policy actions among fiscal and financial authorities will help stabilize the economy and restore investor confidence.

“With synergistic policies between the government, the central bank, the Financial Services Authority, and the Deposit Insurance Corporation, our economic engines should all move together,” he says. “Government and the private sector will push growth to a faster pace.”

He adds that, in percentage terms, the rupiah’s depreciation remains relatively limited and should not create significant disruptions to the real economy.

“The impact on the wholesale level and on the broader economy should be minimal,” Purbaya says. “What matters is that as we continue to strengthen our economic foundations, domestic activity will rise and investors, including foreign investors, will return.”

Meanwhile, economist Teuku Riefky from LPEM FEB UI warns that the latest weakening could establish a troubling precedent.

“This is essentially just waiting a little longer until the rupiah breaks the psychological level of Rp 17,000,” Riefky says when met at the CSIS office.

He argues the current depreciation is more concerning because it occurs without an accompanying economic crisis.

“We are not facing Covid-19, nor an Asian financial crisis like 1997–1998,” Riefky says. “What worries me is whether the policy-making process is causing investors to no longer see Indonesia as a sound economy.”