IDR/USD - Live Converters & Chart

Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) outlook

The rupiah slipped in mid-May to 4-month lows against the US dollar (Rp.14,450) and yen (Rp.132), though it was steady against the Australian dollar (Rp.9,960). This pattern shows how much of the rupiah’s recent movements have been driven by risk sentiment. The rupiah remains historically weak, given its proximity to October’s 20-year low of Rp.15,265 per USD.

Weighing on investor sentiment this year has been the significant escalation in US-China trade tensions. Washington and Beijing both stepped up measures against one another.

For the rupiah, not helping matters in May was news of Indonesia’s worst monthly trade deficit in 6 years, at US$2.5 billion.

With exports struggling, Indonesia’s central bank is under pressure to lower interest rates from 6 percent, but having already pledged to support the rupiah, these rate cuts are unlikely to come, for now.

Capital Economics said in May that the rupiah would be “vulnerable to sudden falls during periods of weak risk appetite.”

DBS warned of “dire consequences” for emerging market currencies like the rupiah if no trade agreement is struck between the US and China.

United States Dollar (USD) outlook

The US dollar has benefitted this year despite some quite serious escalations in US-China trade tensions, mainly because the greenback is still considered a safer currency to own than most others. By mid-May, the Dollar Index was nearly 2 percent higher year-to-date; it was only 0.5 percent away from making a 2-year high.

The greenback’s 2019 strength has come in spite of a dovish turn by the Federal Reserve, which said in March it expects no interest rate increase this year. Fortunately for dollar holders, the rest of the world has problems and many other central banks have also turned dovish, removing some of the policy-based incentives for selling USD.

In May, HSBC warned against thinking that the dollar has got too high. The bank highlighted the “desolation and destruction” (an exaggeration) facing other economies and currencies. “You can never get too high,” the bank’s chief analyst said. “What would you want to buy out there if not dollars?”

Read the full article United States Dollar Forecasts.

The IDR/USD mid-rate is the rate you will see quoted online or the news, nobody except the largest banks and businesses can get exchange rates close to this mid-rate. It is actually just the theoretical half-way point (hence mid-rate) between the last rate at which the IDR / USD was traded (bought or sold) in the international markets.