Indonesia's president says rupiah is better than other currencies

JAKARTA Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the rupiah exchange rate was in a good condition compared to other currencies and said the country's economy could grow by 5.4 per cent to 6 per cent in the third quarter.

The rupiah dropped to its lowest level since April 2020 against the dollar, due to global market turmoil.

The president said that global economic conditions are highly uncertain, but with about 7 per cent depreciation so far this year, the rupiah is faring better compared to its Asian peers. He said the recent weakness in foreign exchange was due to the market turmoil caused by Britain's fiscal policy announcements last week.

The president, Jokowi, said there was no certainty as to when the war in Ukraine is going to end and the Indonesian government will work on maintaining stability and growth.

He said our nation will require endurance, and he asked Finance Minister Sri Mulyani to be prudent with fiscal spending.

Many international analysts are expecting that next year will be worse, but things will be different if we prepare ammunition, he said.

Jokowi said he remains confident that Indonesian economic growth will be supported by development of downstream industries for its minerals sector, and that after banning exports of raw nickel ore, Indonesia would implement similar policies for other materials such as tin and bauxite.

Indonesia's economy grew by 5.44 per cent in the second quarter.

The rupiah was up 0.16 per cent as of 0318 GMT on Thursday, after dropping 0.93 per cent a day earlier in the day.