"British lawmakers chose to refuse to leave the European Union without a withdrawal agreement. Meanwhile, the yuan also fell after the release of below-expected factory output data,."
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The exchange rate of the rupiah transacted between banks in Jakarta on Thursday afternoon fell after strengthening in the last three days in a row.

The rupiah exchange rate this afternoon weakened 13 points to Rp14,278 per US dollar from Rp14,265 per US dollar.

PT Garuda Futures Director Ibrahim Assuaibi stated in Jakarta on Thursday that the weakening of the rupiah was influenced by external factors, namely related to the issue of Brexit and the weakening of the yuan.

"British lawmakers chose to refuse to leave the European Union without a withdrawal agreement. Meanwhile, the yuan also fell after the release of below-expected factory output data," he noted.

Meanwhile, Washington targets to cut Iranian crude oil exports by around 20 percent to below one million barrels per day, which results in a stronger world crude oil price.

"This will affect the swelling of Indonesia's trade balance, because imports of fuel will naturally be more expensive and require a larger amount of US dollars," he remarked.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) is scheduled to release data on Indonesia's international trade in the period February 2019 on Friday (March 15) morning.

Analysts' predictions estimated that exports were contracted, alias minus 4.26 percent (yoy), imports edged up 0.4 percent, and the trade balance minus US$841 million.

The exchange rate of the rupiah on Thursday morning opened up to Rp14,240 per US dollar. Throughout the day, the rupiah moved in the range of between Rp14,240 per US dollar and Rp14,280 per US dollar.

Meanwhile, the central exchange rate of Bank Indonesia on Thursday showed that the rupiah strengthened to Rp14,253 per US dollar compared to the previous day at Rp14,269 per US dollar.

EDITED BY INE

Reporter: Eliswan Azly
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2019