RUPIAH FALLS TO NEARLY RP11,900 ON MONDAY

Jakarta, Feb. 16 (ANTARA) - The rupiah fell to nearly Rp11,900 per US dollar in the Jakarta interbank spot market here on Monday.
The local currency traded at Rp11,895/11,905 per US dollar, down 45 points from Rp11,850/11,875 at the market's close last Friday.

The rupiah was still under pressure in the money market causing the Indonesian currency to tumble to nearly Rp11,900 per US dollar, retail banking director of PT Bank Mega Tbk. Kostaman Thayib said here on Monday.
"We expect the rupiah to continue to slide as demand for the US dollar is still high," he said.
The rupiah tended to be under pressure because supply of the greenback in the domestic market had decreased after foreign investors took the greenback to countries which needed fresh funds to boost their economic growths, he said.
Another factor pressuring the local currency was the Indonesian export performance which was worse than early last year's exports.
Besides, the foreign exchange reserves of Bank Indonesia (BI, the central bank) dropped from US$58 billion to US$51 billion, he said.
The US dollar surge in the domestic market was not in line with the condition of the US where its economic growth was slowing down due to the current financial crisis, he said.
The US needed a huge amount of greenback, therefore the government prepared US$787-billion economic stimulus package to foster the country's economic growth, he said.
However, he expressed his optimism that the rupiah would improve again if the upcoming general elections could be implemented peacefully and smoothly.
Because most funds going out of the country were owned by local investors, and they were expected to bring back their funds after the general elections, he said.
Funds would flow into Indonesia in the fourth quarter if the next cabinet and economic team were considered credible by investors, he said.