The Indonesian rupiah strengthened to around IDR 16,925 on Wednesday in thin holiday trading, rebounding from recent weakness as the dollar index eased ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate decision and its first economic projections for 2026 due later today. Domestically, Bank Indonesia on Tuesday announced new measures, effective April, to curb speculative activity in the local currency, while keeping its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4.75% for a sixth consecutive month. Notably, policymakers dropped earlier guidance suggesting they were looking to create room for future rate cuts.
Under the new rules, foreign-currency purchases exceeding USD 50,000 per party per month will require supporting documentation to verify genuine underlying demand. At the same time, the ceiling for domestic non-deliverable forward sales will be doubled to USD 10 million per transaction, with comparable increases for swap transactions. Governor Perry Warjiyo stated that the central bank will continue to optimize its policy mix to safeguard external resilience and maintain rupiah stability amid ongoing global uncertainty.
