JAKARTA – President Prabowo Subianto’s statement that people in the village do not use dollars in their daily lives is considered by economists to be a boomerang for the rupiah’s plunge.
“Rupiah like this, rupiah like this, what? Eh, dollars like this. People in the village don’t use dollars, right? Food is safe, energy is safe, yes. Many countries are panicking, Indonesia is still okay,” said Prabowo at the inauguration of the Marsinah Museum in Nganjuk, East Java, Saturday (16/5/2026).
Prabowo’s statement was made amid the weakening of the rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar. For information, the rupiah broke through the level of Rp17,500 per US dollar on Friday (15/5/2026), and reached Rp17,683 on Monday (18/5).
In addition, Prabowo also asked the public not to worry as long as the Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa could still smile. Those who are restless about the weakening of the rupiah, according to Prabowo, are entrepreneurs and those who often travel abroad.
“Believe me, our economy is strong, our fundamentals are strong. What do people want to say, Indonesia is strong,” Prabowo’s statement was immediately greeted with applause from the invitees.
Prabowo’s statement that villagers do not use dollars has been highlighted by a number of economic observers. The president is considered to have a lack of understanding of the problems Indonesia is currently facing.
Lack of Understanding of the Problem
The weakening of the rupiah exchange rate against the dollar has continued in the past few times. In January, the rupiah was at the level of Rp16,700 to Rp16,900 per dollar. In May, the rupiah exchange rate against the dollar continued to decline to Rp17,629 and became the weakest record.
The weakening of the rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar has made a number of observers worried. However, this situation is actually taken lightly by Prabowo.
Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) Bhima Yudhistira said Prabowo did not understand the problems Indonesia was facing. Even though the fact is that rural people do not use US dollars to transact, they will still be affected by the weakening of the rupiah.
Bhima emphasized that the Indonesian economy is increasingly integrated with the global system, where the needs of rural communities are related to imported goods.
“The price of fertilizer for planting rice, up to tempe and tahu which are imported, is all affected by the dollar. Don’t think that the weakening of the rupiah against the dollar will not spread to the rising cost of living in the village,” said Bhima through a short message to VOI.
When contacted separately, CELIOS Economic Director Nailul Huda also criticized Prabowo’s statement regarding “the increase in the rupiah exchange rate against the dollar is not a problem because people in the village do not use dollars”.
“In fact, the village community is still consuming goods whose raw materials are imported, such as soybeans which will definitely increase in price when the rupiah weakens against the US dollar,” said Huda. Likewise with fertilizer, there are imported components that make rice production more expensive, prices increase.
“So the impact of the increase in the value of the rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar is very much to the people in the village, or the city,” Huda explained.
“This should be conveyed by a head of state. Vigilance against the weakening of the rupiah which could result in the prices of goods and so on,” he added.
The Impact of Prabowo’s Blunder Statement
President Prabowo’s statement that villagers do not use dollars in transactions carries a number of risks. Bhima Yudhistira is worried, the president’s over-optimistic words make people unprepared to face economic pressures.
“It was a sudden shock, shock, and the people who were harmed were the villagers who had no preparation,” said Bhima.
Meanwhile, Nailul Huda said Prabowo’s statement yesterday could make investors worried about the direction of government policies which are seen as increasingly unreliable.
“Investors always see the government’s reaction to a condition. If the government’s response is considered negative, then investors will also see negative,” said Huda.
When the president “denies” this weakening problem, for example, real sector investors will hesitate to enter Indonesia because it can be considered unimportant.
“In fact, they also import raw materials which are influenced by the exchange rate,” continued Huda.
Economist Yanuar Rizky assessed that President Prabowo Subianto should have followed the example of the Prime Minister of Singapore, by speaking honestly about the country’s economic condition without blaming others.
In addition, the government should give people confidence by explaining what steps are being taken so that the situation does not get worse.
“This means that this country does not show a sense of crisis, and if the president does not show it, it is dangerous,” he concluded.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language.
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