BI Chief of Public Relations Difi A Johansyah said here on Wednesday that transactions declined in the national manual clearing system of the central bank (SKNBI) and in the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system.
He said that on Thursday, January 17, the volumes and values of the RTGS transactions dropped respectively to 502 thousand below the daily average volume of 71.1 thousand and Rp297.9 trillion below the daily average value of Rp404 trillion.
On Friday, January 18 meanwhile, the volume of the RTGS transactions was noted at 58.4 thousand below the average volume of 71.1 thousand, while the transaction value also dropped to Rp284.4 trillion from the average Rp404 trillion.
The the volume of clearing transactions on January 17 was recorded at 21.0 thousand below the average daily transaction volume of 59.6 thousand while value of clearing transactions on the same day was noted at Rp0.9 trillion below the average figure per day of Rp2.5 trillion.
Although transactions dropped during the flooding in Jakarta, yet the payment system was running well without any downtime in the RTGS and SKNBI systems, Difi said.
In the meantime, on Thursday, January 18, the Indonesian currency rupiah gained 40 points against the US dollar on intervention by Bank Indonesia (BI).
The currency traded at 9,650 to the dollar in inter-bank transactions strengthening from the previous level of 9,690 .
"Rupiah is still protected by the central bank," money market observer from Bank Himpunan Saudara Rully Nova said on Thursday.
Rully said external condition also contributed to the rupiah strengthening with growing Chinese economy boosting risky currencies including rupiah.
Growing Chinese economy bring about positive sentiments in Asia countries," he said.
Samuel Sekuritas` analyst Lana Soelistianingsih said China is expected to end the period of its economic slowdown in the past seven quarters with the government plan to implement infrastructure projects.
"Chinese economic revival also indicates economic improvement in the European Union and the United States its main trading partners, Lana said.
She predicted the rupiah would be kept to hover around the levels of 9,670- 9,690 per US dollar.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
