The rupiah strengthened following a news report that US President Donald Trump has signed a long-awaited act on COVID-19 assistance.Jakarta (ANTARA) - The rupiah strengthened against the US dollar in the Jakarta interbank market on Monday on the back of a long-awaited US stimulus package.
The Indonesian currency rose 45 points, or 0.32 percent, to Rp14,155 from Rp14,200 per dollar earlier.
"The rupiah strengthened following a news report that US President Donald Trump has signed a long-awaited act on COVID-19 assistance," PT TRFX Garuda Berjangka director Ibrahim Assuaibi said on Monday.
Trump signed the bill clearing a pandemic assistance and spending package of US$2.3 trillion. The package includes US$1.4 trillion in funding for state bodies.
Had the bill not been signed, it would have triggered a partial government shutdown on Tuesday (December 29, 2020). The shutdown would have entailed a loss of income for millions of government employees.
Trump had earlier threatened not to sign the bill till the amount of stimulus was raised.
Meanwhile, the European Union started a vaccination campaign all over the continent in the past week after agreeing to use BNT162b2, a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE. The EU also reached a post-Brexit trade agreement with Britain before Christmas.
Still, the number of COVID-19 cases increased globally to cross 80.7 million, as of December 28, 2020, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, many more countries have imposed more stringent physical restrictions policies to fight a new and more communicable strain of COVID-19 — B.1.1.7.
After opening higher in the morning, the rupiah moved in the range of Rp14,155 per dollar to Rp14.172 per dollar for the rest of the day on Monday. (INE)
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