Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati asked the public to remain calm about the value of the United States dollar (US) which nearly translucent Rp14,000. Sri Mulyani said, the rupiah is not the only currency that weakened, not even the deepest weakening.
"We are paying attention based on the movements of other currencies and also against the dollar itself, the dollar strengthening comes from the policy of the US government of course this leads to other currencies," said Sri Mulyani at the House of Representatives, Jakarta, Thursday (2/4/2018) .
He said the weakening of the exchange rate also occurred in some regional currencies such as India and weakening more deeply than the rupiah.
"If we look at the movements in the last two days, both developed and emerging currencies, we are still in the range of almost the same or better," he added.
In calendar year (YTD) data per April 20, 2018 rupiah is not the deepest weakening currency, but Turkish lira with depreciation of 6.54%.
Next followed by Philippine peso with depreciation of 4.15%, Indian rupee depreciation -3.38%, Brazil real estate depreciation -3.81%, and Indonesia depreciation -2.23%. While the appreciation is Tailand Baht of 4.01%, and Malaysia Ringgit of 3.82%.
"Of course we have to look forward, the public must in this case need to continue to be given information so that they become more calm that this movement is a movement that comes from America and therefore its influence on all currencies in the world," he asserted.
The former Managing Director of the World Bank said there is a momentum that can be utilized by the government when the rupiah exchange rate weakens, namely increasing exports.
"Our exports should be better driven, because indeed the opportunity is today, while global growth is still positive," said Sri Mulyani.
Export products that can be boosted at this time is the manufacturing sector. Therefore, the product has a competitive edge compared with raw commodities whose prices are still fluctuating.
According to him, increased export momentum can also increase state revenue. Moreover, demand from export destination countries is still wide open.
"That is, I will say that global and regional environmental changes must be utilized by the Indonesian economy," he concluded.