JAKARTA, April 24 — Indonesia’s central bank has been buying sovereign bonds and selling foreign currency in “quite a sizeable amount” to halt the rupiah’s depreciation since last week and vowed to continue to stabilise the currency, its governor said today.
Governor Agus Martowardojo said in a statement Bank Indonesia’s (BI) intervention had made the currency more stable this week, following a 0.7 per cent fall against the dollar on Friday.
Today the rupiah touched a new two-year low of 13,898 a dollar, though volatility in the currency has subsided.
“BI will continue to be present in the market to maintain rupiah’s stability to reflect its fundamentals,” the governor said, while stressing that the rupiah’s swings so far this year have been smaller than those of the Brazilian real, Indian rupee or Philippine peso.
BI’s holding of sovereign bonds increased by 4.97 trillion rupiah (RM1.3 billion) on Friday from the previous day, while foreigners sold a net 1.64 trillion rupiah in the sovereign bond market, according to Indonesia’s finance ministry. — Reuters
