Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Bank Indonesia (the central bank/BI) said the rupiah had weakened against the US dollar since September 2011.

"The rupiah`s exchange rate has actually been weakening since September 9-10 and pressure on the local unit has become increasingly stronger over the past few days," BI Governor Darmin Nasution said at a seminar on the Indonesian economic projection 2012 here on Wednesday.

The rupiah`s weakening was the result of increasing economic risk in Europe which had an impact on the global market, he said.

"Because of the increasing risk, foreign capital inflows to developing countries were switched to safe foreign currencies or US dollar-denominated assets," he said.

The currencies of developing countries including Indonesia were likely to rebound after other regional risks had been abating, he said.

"When a solution to the European zone is found and the risk is no longer high the rupiah will rebound," he said.

The Institute for Development of Economy and Finance (Indef) meanwhile predicted the rupiah`s exchange rate against the dollar would trade within the range of Rp8,900-Rp9,100 per dollar next year.

"Although it will be higher than the government assumption in the draft 2012 state budget, the rupiah will be quite stable in 2012," Indef economist Enny Sri Hartati said.

She said among the factors supporting the rupiah`s stability in 2012 would be the country`s stable economic fundamentals which would continue to attract foreign capital inflows.

The country`s foreign exchange reserves which reached more than US$100 billion would also contribute to the rupiah`s stable exchange rate next year, she said. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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