RUPIAH FALLS TO ALMOST RP11,800 BY STRONG PRESSURES

Jakarta, Feb 5 (ANTARA) - The rupiah tumbled in the Jakarta interbank spot market on Thursday evening to almost Rp11.800 per US dollar due to strong market pressures on the Indonesian currency.
The rupiah dipped to Rp11,775/Rp11,825 per US dollar from its level at the market's close on the previous day at Rp11,650/Rp11,700 per US dollar. The fall was 125 points higher than its decline at the opening session at 75 points.
Money market analyst of PT Bank Himpunan Saudara, Rully Nova, said here on Thursday the rupiah was expected to continue weakening in the first semester of 2009 but Bank Indonesia (BI/the central bank) was expected to intervene in the market to halt the rupiah's depreciation.
BI would release dollars from its foreign exchange reserves in order to offset the rupiah's depriation so that it would not reach the Rp12,000 per US dollar level, he said.
He said the rupiah's depreciation was mainly caused by the global financial crisis which had caused dollar stocks in the world market to deplete.
The shortage of dollar stocks in the world market had created pressures on the rupiah so that it fell to Rp11,775 per US dollar, Rully Nova said.
He said however that the Indonesian currency would improve in the second semester of 2009 as pressures caused by the global financial crisis would ease.
The global financial crisis was expected to bottom out after the United States economy had improved through the launching of a US$800 billion economic stimulus package, he added.
"We are optimistic that when the US stimulus package is launched, global economic growth will improve and then Indonesia's economy will also grow faster," Rully Nova said.
Indonesia, according to the money market analyst, could seek new breakthroughs, particularly in its traditional markets which needed Indonesian commodities such as Central Europe where economies were experiencing relatively high growth.
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