TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has begun initial measures to help Bank Indonesia stabilize the rupiah by intervening in the government bond market, as the currency weakens past the Rp17,700 per US dollar level.
The state treasurer is deploying around Rp2 trillion in government cash per day to keep government bond prices stable, using a cash management mechanism through the absorption of State Securities (SBN) in the secondary market.
Purbaya said the policy has been in place since Thursday, May 14, 2026.
“Yesterday, I targeted to absorb Rp2 trillion, but only obtained Rp600 billion. This means the number of sellers is actually limited. So, we are ensuring that bond prices remain controlled,” he said after an open meeting of the Debottlenecking Task Force at the Finance Ministry office in Jakarta on Tuesday, May 19, 2026.
The minister said the government has prepared two instruments to support market stability. The first is a bond stabilization framework, while the second involves cash management operations.
At present, only the cash management approach is being implemented. The broader stabilization framework would involve a Special Mission Vehicle (SMV) under the Finance Ministry, but this has not yet been activated as conditions are still considered manageable.
The plan to deploy Rp2 trillion daily into the bond market was first revealed by Purbaya after a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Monday, May 18, 2026.
“I requested to enter Rp2 trillion every day,” he said.
He explained that the strategy involves buying back government debt securities from the market, adding that the funds used are not lost and would eventually return to state coffers.
“This is to generate positive sentiment in the bond market. Usually, when sentiment improves, foreign investors also tend to enter, and the rupiah tends to be more stable,” he said.
Purbaya did not detail the funding structure or total budget allocation. However, he noted that the government holds around Rp420 trillion in cash reserves in the form of the state budget surplus (SAL), which can be circulated into the bond market.
Ervana Trikarinaputri contributed to the writing of this article.
Read: Rupiah Falls to Rp17,706 per Dollar on Tuesday Trading
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