No subject

to the global weakening of the dollar against most major currencies. The 
strengthening of the rupiah helped create a benign inflation environment in the 
country, which in turn provided opportunity for the central bank to cut down 
its benchmark interest rate. Together, these developments created a much more 
stable macroeconomic environment. 

Two weeks ago, the rupiah reached its peak of around Rp 8,185 per dollar. 

Bank Indonesia Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah said that the central bank was 
still comfortable with the recent decline in the rupiah. 

"It's still within our (target) range," he told reporters, adding that the 
decline would not hurt the country's overall economic performance this year. 

The central bank is targeting the rupiah to hover between Rp 8,500 to Rp 9,000 
this year. 

"There is no need to worry -- it's a normal market mechanism in which a high 
expectation of an economic rebound (in the U.S.) is reflected in the stronger 
currency (dollar). It happens across the region," said Aslim Tadjudin, Bank 
Indonesia deputy of monetary affairs. 

Indeed, during the past couple of weeks, some currencies in the Asian region 
have been weakening against the U.S. dollar after rising rapidly during the 
past few months. Some analysts said the move was a sign that central bankers in 
the region had been worried that the sharp rise in their currencies would 
eventually hurt exports, particularly as the Chinese yuan -- which is pegged to 
the dollar -- became relatively weaker against other units.