Jakarta (VNA) – Bank Indonesia (BI) announced on April 7 that it will intervene aggressively in the domestic foreign exchange market to protect the local currency, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 32% reciprocal tariff on goods imported from the Southeast Asian nation.
The Indonesian central bank said in a statement that the intervention will come in the spot and non-deliverable forward markets, as well as in secondary bond markets, adding that it had already intervened offshore in Asia, European and New York markets.
The bank’s statement said it will also intervene aggressively in the domestic foreign exchange market, after opening on April 8, while purchasing government securities (SBN) in the secondary market.
On the same day, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said the country will negotiate with Washington to ask for a better deal related to the tariff issue.
Indonesian markets, closed since March 28 for public holidays, are set to reopen on April 8, with the IDR at its lowest level against the US dollar since the 1998 Asian financial crisis.
The US is now one of Indonesia's largest trading partners./.
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