When you are thinking about sending money abroad, an international money transfer provider is a great option. They can help you with the whole process, provide useful online tools and most importantly bank-beating exchange rates and low or zero fees.
| Foreign Transfer Providers Ratings & Reviews | Receive IDR(Rp) | Exchange Rate | Fee USD | Total Cost | Transfer Services | Transfer Speed | Deal Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  OFX exchange rates are highly competitive for global money transfers, great customer service. ^Zero transfer fees for BestExchangeRates customers. More▾ | 137,152,200 IDR Best Overall | 13715.22 | 0^ | 3.03% | Bank Transfers - Online & Phone | 1-2 days | |
Banks - Average Rate International Money Transfers Average rate from these selected Banks. Click icons to see each bank's individual rate and fee. More▾ | 133,382,326 IDR Rp3,769,874 less | 13358.27 | 15 | 5.69% | Online, Branch, Bank Transfers | 2-3 days |
This is the current USD-IDR mid-market exchange rate. The Total Cost of each foreign transfer in the above table is calculated as the sum of all fees and the exchange rate margin, which is the difference between the provider's exchange rate and the mid-market USD-IDR exchange rate.
Whenever you are interested in an exchange rate you are actually interested in two currencies due to the fact that the value of a currency must always be quoted in comparison to a second currency.
So it follows that if you are determining the best time to transact, in this case the USD vs IDR, you should pay attention to both United States Dollar and Indonesian Rupiah news and forecasts.
26-January-19: 2018 was a reasonable year for the dollar. Measured by the US Dollar Index, the greenback appreciated by 4 percent, which was much better than 2017’s 10 percent loss. It was, though, something of a stuttering end to 2018 and the dollar has had mixed fortunes in early 2019.
In December, after lifting US interest rates to 2.25-2.5 percent, the Fed lowered its expectations for future hikes due to so-called “cross currents” (China, Brexit, trade wars etc.). Skepticism among analysts over future Fed hikes has for some time been the main reason for dollar pessimism for 2019, but now, there is also the prospect of a US economic slowdown to contend with.
“A slowdown in the economy is likely to weigh on USD particularly in the second half of this year,” a CIBC researcher said in January.
Of the same opinion was an expert at ING, who argued that the dollar is soon to “embark on a gradual long-term bearish trend.”
January’s extended US government shutdown also has dollar-negative ramifications. Not only is the shutdown likely to hit first-quarter GDP growth, disagreements within Congress bode poorly for the future of potentially inflationary fiscal spending.
In 2018 the rupiah shed 6 percent of its value against the US dollar (Rp.14,479), 2 percent against the euro (Rp.16,579) and 1 percent versus the pound (Rp.18,446). It did, however, manage to gain nearly 4 percent against a struggling Australian dollar (Rp.10,212).
Among factors contributing to rupiah weakness in 2018 was the mid-year emerging market currency crisis and a US-China trade war, as well as the firmer US dollar and higher US interest rates, which makes Indonesia’s foreign loan repayments more expensive and risk-adjusted rupiah returns less attractive.
The Indonesian central bank raised interest rates several times in 2018 in an attempt to curb currency weakness but this only proved effective in the final two months of the year, during which the rupiah gained 5 percent against the US dollar.
In mid-December, ANZ’s Head of Asia Research advised making bets on rupiah appreciation for 2019; he described this as one of his “top trades” for the year. The rupiah will be strongly supported, especially in the second half of the year, once the Fed begins to slow down or pause on interest rates hikes, he said.
