Prabowo Blames Capital Outflows for Rupiah Weakness

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said capital outflows have been a major factor weakening the rupiah against foreign currencies over the past several decades.

"If there are people saying today that our rupiah is weak because of this and that, it is because our wealth has been flowing out. If our blood keeps leaving our body every day, eventually we will collapse," Prabowo said during his speech at the closing ceremony of the 2026 National Deliberation of Religious Scholars and the Grand Conference of Nahdlatul Ulama in Bangkalan, East Java, on Tuesday.

Prabowo described the continuous outflow of national wealth from Indonesia as a "net outflow of national wealth."

Citing international data, Prabowo said Indonesia had recorded trade surpluses for 17 years out of the past 22 years.

However, he argued that much of the US$436 billion in trade gains had flowed back overseas, with around US$343 billion allegedly leaving the country through capital outflows.

The president said the imbalance has left only a limited amount of real funds circulating and remaining within the domestic economy.

"What has happened in Indonesia is that the wealth of the Indonesian people has flowed out of the country," Prabowo said.

Over the past two decades, the rupiah has experienced fluctuations against the US dollar. In the mid-2000s, the exchange rate stood at around Rp9,000 per US dollar.

The currency later faced pressure from global financial market volatility in 2013, the COVID-19 pandemic, and recent geopolitical tensions, which pushed the rupiah beyond Rp18,000 per US dollar — one of its weakest levels on record.

Read: Prabowo Heads to East Java for NU Conference, Road Event

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