Rupiah plummets to 4-year low, breaches 16,200 per US dollar following week-long Eid break

[JAKARTA] The Indonesian rupiah skidded past another fresh four-year low on Tuesday (Apr 16), prompting its central bank to intervene as activity resumed after a seven-day break for the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Pundits are not ruling out a rate hike at Bank Indonesia’s (BI) upcoming meeting on Apr 24, given the battered currency.

The rupiah fell as low as 16,200 against the greenback during Asia’s morning session on Tuesday and has since been hovering just below that level. Year to date, the currency of South-east Asia’s largest economy has depreciated 2.2 per cent.

The dollar has been rallying since the …