REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Sandiaga Uno, a vice presidential candidate of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto urged millennials generation (those who were born between 1980 and 2000) to not travel abroad. His statement came following the weakening of the rupiah exchange rate.

“For millennials, don’t go abroad at this time. Sorry to say, you guys millennials like to travel, for the sake of the country just focus on tourism here,” said Sandiaga on Wednesday (September 5).

The rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar is at the level of Rp 15,029. Sandiaga urged businessmen to convert their deposit from US dollars into rupiah as he did. According to him, now is the time to hand in hand defending the country.

"There are many speculators, don’t let us to be fooled” Sandiaga added.

Earlier, Sandiaga has also reminded the government to focus on dealing with this problem and not on spending more time in politics.  He noted that the government must be aware of the weakening of the exchange rate, especially the price of basic needs of the community.

He also expressed concern over the weakening of the rupiah exchange rate, which will affect the company's production costs, leading to the potential for termination of employment or layoffs. For this reason, the former deputy governor of Jakarta called on the government to sit together with the businesses in addressing this phenomenon.

Sandiaga reminded the government to start tightening belts and delay imports that were not needed. He said postpone dollar-based expenditures, delay the import of unnecessary goods, and encourage the use of local product must be done.

Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia (BI) has spent Rp11.9 trillion on easing the pressure on the rupiah by meddling in the secondary market and buying back state securities (SBN) from foreign investors. The buyback operation involved Rp3 trillion on Thursday (Aug 30), Rp4.1 trillion on Friday (Aug 31), Rp3 trillion on Monday (Sept 3), and Rp1.8 trillion on Tuesday (Sept 4).

"We bought back SBN on Thursday and Friday last week and Monday and Tuesday this week," BI Governor Perry Warjiyo said at a meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission XI here on Wednesday.

The operation is part of BI's dual intervention, in which the central bank meddled in the SBN market when the rupiah's exchange rate was far from its fundamental level, he noted. BI also intervened in the foreign currency market to ensure that the supply of foreign currencies is adequate, he added.

"We are currently focusing on stabilizing (the rupiah)," he remarked.

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