RUPIAH PASSES RP10,000 PER US DOLLAR

Jakarta, July 24 (ANTARA) - The rupiah passed the level of Rp10,000 per US dollar in the Jakarta interbank spot market here on Friday as investors continued to purchase the local currency.

The Indonesian currency traded at Rp9,990-Rp10,000 per US dollar, up 38 points from Rp10,028-Rp10,035 per US dollar at the market's close a day earlier.

The continued surge of the rupiah had been anticipated earlier that it could pass the level of Rp10,000 per US dollar, Rully Nova, a foreign exchange analyst of PT Bank Himpunan Saudara Tbk, said here on Friday.

The rupiah climbed as investors were confident that Indonesia continued to be a potential market for investments, he said.

The rupiah's surge was also supported by commodity price hike at export markets and the rupiah interest rate which is still higher than the US dollar, he said.

The main factors which encouraged investors to buy the local unit were the one round implementation of the presidential election and the improving condition of the regional market.

"We are optimistic that the rupiah will still enjoy the market's positive sentiment, although there is a report that advanced countries have suffered from increasing budget deficit," he said.

Indonesia was the third country after China and India, which enjoyed sound economic growth, he said.

Therefore, foreign investors preferred to invest their funds in Asia than in advanced countries, especially the United States, he explained.

According to Rully Nova, the rupiah will remain at around Rp10,000 per US dollar as Bank Indonesia (BI) would guard the local currency to prevent it from significantly climbing further.

BI is worried that if the rupiah continued to increase, it would disadvantage the Indonesian export products, he said.

The government has projected the country's economic growth in 2010 at five percent, thereby lowering the unemployment and poverty rates in Indonesia.

State Minister for the National Development Planning/Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Paskah Suzetta said in Jakarta Thursday with an economic growth of 5 percent the unemployment rate would become eight percent, and poverty most likely would become 12-13.5 percent.