The rupiah strengthened three points to trade at Rp14,230 per dollar on Wednesday morning, as compared to Rp14,233 per dollar earlier.
Samuel Aset Manajemen economist Lana Soelistianingsih noted that the rupiah strengthened along with the forecast that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will not raise its interest rate.
"The Fed, which held its FOMC meeting on March 19-20, is likely to maintain its interest rate at 2.5 percent as it is," Soelistianingsih added.
The expectation is relevant to the statement by Chief of The Fed Jerome Powell that the current Fed Fund Rate (FFR) has reached close to its normal level, coupled with the US economic data that shows no significant change, she pointed out.
The result of pooling by Bloomberg indicated that over 90 percent of the analysts believed that The Fed will decide its rate at the FOMC held on Wednesday local time.
"It is likely that Bank Indonesia, which will hold the meeting of its board of governors on March 20-21, will follow the decision by maintaining its 7DRR rate at six percent, fueled by relatively stable macro data, including the rupiah's stable exchange rate of Rp14,200 per US dollar," she remarked.
She forecast that the rupiah would weaken within the range of Rp14,200 to Rp14,260 per dollar on Wednesday.
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Translator: Citro Atmoko, Suharto
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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