Ilona Estherina, Jakarta – The Indonesian rupiah continues to trade around 17,070 per US dollar as of Thursday, April 9, 2026. According to Trading Economics data, the currency was recorded at 17,073 per US dollar at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday morning.
The rupiah has consistently hovered around the 17,000 mark since the beginning of this week, even briefly touching a low of 17,100 per US dollar. The Chairperson of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), Shinta Kamdani, stated that this exchange rate depreciation is having a deeply negative impact on the business community.
"We are very concerned about this continuous and persistent depreciation," she told Tempo on Thursday, April 9, 2026.
According to Shinta, the rupiah's decline is driving up inflation through rising production costs, a phenomenon known as cost-push inflation. This has hit the manufacturing sector particularly hard, as these industries generally rely on imported components for their production. When the dollar strengthens, the cost of these essential imports inevitably rises.
Based on an Apindo survey, manufacturing firms have raw material import requirements ranging from 35 to 70 percent. On average, less than 30 percent of these imported components can be produced or substituted domestically. Consequently, the mounting inflationary pressure on production costs is putting the manufacturing industry under significant strain.
Furthermore, another consequence of the weakening rupiah is that companies are finding it increasingly difficult to generate the cash flow necessary to maintain their existing production volumes.
The negative impact also manifests as thinning profit margins, as companies struggle to mitigate the effects of cost-push inflation on market prices. This trend could eventually lead to a decline in overall aggregate demand.
Shinta, who is also the Deputy Chair of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), expressed hope that the government will implement all necessary fiscal and monetary interventions to restore exchange rate stability. This includes pushing for a recovery of the exchange rate toward the State Budget target of 16,500 per US dollar in a bid to address these negative impacts before they become an overwhelming burden on the business world.
Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/2097230/weakening-rupiah-squeezes-businesses-as-it-hits-1707