Jakarta -Hari ini, Presiden Joko Widodo (Jokowi) memanggil Gubernur Bank Indonesia (BI) Agus DW Martowardojo ke Istana Negara. Jokowi sangat ingin perbankan bisa menurunkan suku bunga kredit agar bisa menggerakkan ekonomi.

Seusai pertemuan, Agus menjelaskan BI sudah menurunkan suku bunga acuan BI Rate dari 7,75% menjadi 7,5%. Menurutnya, perlu proses agar BI Rate 'menular' ke suku bunga perbankan.

"Di sektor perbankan, secara umum kita masih akan melihat transmisi daripada penyesuaian bunga itu kepada penyaluran kredit, kepada kegiatan sektor ekonomi yang lain. Jadi kita masih akan melihat bagaimana transmisinya kepada masyarakat," kata Agus di komplek Istana Negara, Jakarta, Rabu (25/2/2015).

Namun, Agus menyebutkan, penurunan BI Rate hanya salah satu faktor yang bisa membuat bunga di tingkat bank ikut turun. Ada banyak faktor lain yang mempengaruhi.

"Untuk menentukan bunga pinjaman itu ada banyak faktor. Ada cost of money, ada reserve requirement, ada margin dari risiko, ada porsi dari overhead cost, ada profit juga di situ. Jadi komponen-komponen itu yang dianalisis untuk didapatkan berapa," jelas eks Direktur Utama PT Bank Mandiri Tbk (BMRI) ini.

Kemarin, Jokowi sudah memanggil pimpinan sejumlah bank BUMN. Salah satu permintaan Jokowi adalah bank bisa menurunkan bunga kredit seiring penurunan BI Rate.

"Ya, itu yang diharapkan (Presiden Jokowi). Bisa kemungkinan diturunkan. Berapa turunnya, beliau percaya kepada kita lah," ungkap Gatot Suwondo, Direktur Utama PT Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk (BBNI).

http://finance.detik.com/read/2015/0...ta-gubernur-bi

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Wakil Presiden Jusuf Kalla kembali menyampaikan harapan pemerintah agar Bank Indonesia menurunkan suku bunga. Penurunan suku bunga ini dinilainya mampu mendorong pertumbuhan ekonomi sesuai dengan target pemerintah.

"Mungkin malah harus diturunkan bunga kita agar lebih cepat pertumbuhannya untuk mencapai sekitar enam persen itu," ujar Kalla di Jakarta, Rabu (28/1/2015).

Kendati demikian, menurut dia, BI belum perlu mengubah kebijakan moneter yang fundamental menyusul keputusan bank sentral Eropa (ECB) yang menyuntikkan stimulus. Perekonomian yang stagnan di zona euro dan ancaman deflasi membuat ECB menyuntikkan stimulus tersebut. Langkah serupa pernah diambil bank sentral Amerika Serikat (The Federal Reserve/The Fed) tujuh tahun lalu. Menurut Kalla, kondisi pertumbuhan ekonomi Indonesia masih lebih baik dibandingkan dengan negara-negara Eropa.

"Euro zone itukan Anda tahu semua banyak kesulitannya, banyak masalahnya. Di Yunani, Jerman, di mana pun akibat embargo ke Rusia dan sebagainya sehingga ekonomi Eropa lebih stagnan dewasa ini dari pada dulu karena itu dia, merubah kebijakannya," sambung Kalla.

Kebijakan ECB ini dinilai menambah keragaman kebijakan moneter global. Gubernur ECB Mario Draghi sebelumnya mengumumkan bahwa ECB akan membeli surat berharga, termasuk terbitan swasta, hingga 60 miliar euro per bulan. Program pembelian ini akan berlangsung hingga September 2016.

Pada saat yang sama, ECB mempertahankan tingkat suku bunga yang mencapai rekor terendahnya sebesar 0,05 persen. Pelonggaran dilakukan ECB. Sebaliknya, The Fed justru akan mengetatkan likuiditasnya dan menurunkan suku bunga. Bank sentral Denmark, Turki, India, Peru, dan Kanada sudah memangkas suku bunganya pekan lalu.

http://bisniskeuangan.kompas.com/rea....Kebijakan.ECB

JAKARTA - Kebijakan Pemerintah menurunkan harga Bahan Bakar Minyak (BBM) menjadi Rp 6.600 untuk premium dan Rp 6.400 untuk solar. Harga elpiji 12 kg pun turun jadi Rp 129.000, dan semen turun Rp 3.000 per sak.
Wakil Presiden Jusuf Kalla menyebut penurunan ini merupakan upaya pemerintah untuk memperbaiki sistem pemerintahan.
Jusuf Kalla menginginkan agar Bank Indonesia (BI) menurunkan suku bunga acuannya atau BI rate menyusul kebijakan pemerintah menurunkan harga BBM, elpiji, dan semen.
Kemarin, BI masih mempertahankan BI rate di angka 7,75%. Menurutnya, Indonesia beruntung ekonominya masih tumbuh dengan baik meskipun berbagai kesulitan menghadang.
"Beruntung bulan ini tidak naik BI rate nya. Mudah-mudahan tahun ini bisa turun, kalau pemerintah kasih sinyal turun, bank juga kasih sinyal dong, Kita bersyukur benar walaupun keadaan agak sulit sedikit tapi kita terus bertumbuh. Kita perlu pertumbuhan lebih dari 5%. Kita ada budget tapi masa tidak bisa lebih tinggi pertumbuhan ekonominya," ujar JK di Pertemuan Tahunan Pelaku Industri Jasa Keuangan 2015 di Gedung Dhanapala, Kementerian Keuangan, Lapangan Banteng, Jakarta, Jumat (16/1/2015).
JK mengatakan Indonesia tidak perlu punya kekhawatiran berlebihan terhadap kondisi ekonomi global. Saat ekonomi Amerika Serikat (AS) membaik bukan berarti kondisi ekonomi Indonesia harus terpuruk. Malah sebaliknya, Indonesia harus bisa lebih baik lagi.
"Dulu 1998 ekonomi AS sulit, terus ekonomi kita sulit karena ekonomi AS sulit, sekarang ekonomi AS naik, kita juga sulit karena ekonomi AS membaik, kita harus ikut naik," tandasnya. (cr-05)

http://www.indopos.co.id/2015/01/jus....te9nVQNi.dpuf

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - Bank Indonesia (BI) memutuskan untuk menurunkan suku bunga acuan BI Rate sebesar 25 basis poin menjadi 7,50 persen. Suku bunga Lending Facility tidak mengalami perubahan sehingga tetap di 8 persen. Sedangkan suku bunga Deposit Facility turun mengikuti BI Rate sebesar 25 basis poin menjadi 5,5 persen.

Gubernur BI, Agus Martowardojo menjelaskan, Rapat Dewan Gubernur yang digelar pada hari ini memutuskan untuk menurunkan BI Rate karena tidak ada tekanan politik yang cukup tinggi yang akan mengganggu iklim ekonomi. Agus juga melihat bahwa level BI Rate setelah diturunkan masih konsisten dengan upaya untuk mengarahkan inflasi menuju ke sasaran yang berada di kisaran 4 pada 2015 dan 2016.

"Selain itu, level tersebut juga mendukung pengendalian transaksi berjalan ke tingkat yang lebih sehat," jelasnya di Kantor Bank Indonesia, Selasa (17/2/2015).

Agus melanjutkan, meskipun Bank Indonesia telah mengambil berbagai kebijakan untuk mengendalikan tingkat inflasi dan juga transaksi berjalan, namun tantangan mencapai target tersebut masih besar terutama faktor global.

Ke depan, BI akan terus memperkuat bauran kebijakan moneter dan makroprudensial, dan sistem pembayaran, serta memperkuat koordinasi dengan Pemerintah dalam pengendalian inflasi dan defisit transaksi berjalan serta mendorong berlanjutnya reformasi struktural untuk mendukung pertumbuhan ekonomi yang lebih tinggi.

Langkah yang ditempuh BI dengan menurunkan suku bunga acuan tersebut membuat perkiraan para ekonom meleset. "Saya pribadi menginginkan BI rate untuk turun, namun kemungkinan besar BI tidak akan mengubahnya." kata Direktur PT Bahana TWC Asset Management, Budi Hikmat saat berbincang dengan Liputan6.com.

Ia menjelaskan, BI Rate tetap karena dengan level sekarang BI menunjukkan masih akan fokus menurunkan neraca transaksi berjalan Indonesia. Namun keinginan Budi untuk BI rate bisa turun akan membantu meningkatkan pertumbuhan ekonomi Indonesia. Dalam asumsi makro Anggaran Pendapatan Belanja Negara Perubahan (APBN-P) 2015, pertumbuhan ekonomi ditetapkan 5,7 persen.

Hal yang sama juga diungkapkan oleh pengamat ekonomi dari Universitas Atma Jaya, Prasetyantoko. "Melihat kondisi ekonomi sekarang, sepertinya masih akan tetap (BI rate)," tegas Prasetyantoko.‎ (Fik/Gdn)

http://bisnis.liputan6.com/read/2177...oin-menjadi-75

Bank Indonesia Comfortable With Weakening Rupiah, Says Helps Exports

Jakarta. Indonesia‘s central bank signaled that it is comfortable with the drop in the rupiah as it makes exports more competitive in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, a Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor said on Friday.

The rupiah has been trading around 12,800-12,900 against the dollar in the past week, touching a ten-week low on Tuesday. It has weakened almost 4 percent in the year.

“We need a competitive exchange rate to support exports of manufactured goods and decrease non-productive imports,” Mirza Adityaswara, the deputy governor, told Reuters on Friday.

“The current exchange rate is competitive enough because the rupiah has weakened.”

Chief Economics Minister Sofyan Djalil said after a meeting with the president and Bank Indonesia‘s governor on Tuesday that the central bank had not intervened significantly to defend the weak rupiah because both the government and the central bank are focused on improving domestic economic conditions.

“Why would we use our foreign exchange reserves to defend a falling currency if it was because of external factors?” Djalil said.

Central bank officials said the weak rupiah is mainly a consequence of a broadly stronger dollar, noting that the rupiah has actually appreciated against several other currencies this year.

Data from Bank for International Settlements showed the real effective exchange rate of the rupiah appreciating since the start of 2014.

Indonesia‘s exchange rate had a volatile 2014, falling sharply by 4.5 percent in the second half of the year. It reached a 16-year low in December, trading at 12,930 per dollar.

That helped exports of manufactured goods to rise by 7 percent in 2014, Adityaswara said. Overall, however, exports contracted 3.4 percent last year on the back of sliding sales of commodities.

Indonesia‘s economy posted its weakest growth in five years in 2014 as the end of the commodities boom and high interest rates dented investment and domestic demand.

Analysts said Bank Indonesia‘s decision to cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points last week could further weigh on the rupiah in the near term.

http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.co...helps-exports/

The Indonesian currency dropped to nearly Rp 13,000 per US dollar on Friday after Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Agus Martowardojo said the central bank would tolerate a weak rupiah.

“We must be prepared for circumstances in which the rupiah depreciates, given the strengthening trend of the US dollar,” Agus told reporters at BI’s headquarters in Jakarta on Friday.

He reiterated the central bank’s commitment to intervene in the market to stabilize the rupiah, but added that he would not go against the tide if other Asian currencies also weakened against the dollar.

The central bank wants to see an improvement in the competitiveness of Indonesian exporters, said Agus.

The rupiah dropped after the BI governor showed a willingness to let it continue on its downward trend. On Friday, the rupiah touched 12,948 per US dollar, its lowest since November 2008, before it appreciated slightly to close at 12,928, or 0.7 percent lower than a day earlier, after the central bank intervened by supplying the market with dollars.

If the rupiah strengthened while other currencies in the region weakened against the US dollar, “that could result in serious repercussions for the Indonesian economy”, the BI governor said.

Senior deputy governor Mirza Adityaswara wrote in a text message on Friday that BI would intervene in the market if the currency’s depreciation was too steep.

The rupiah’s current real effective exchange rate — an inflation-adjusted value of the rupiah relative to other major currencies — was already undervalued, he told The Jakarta Post after the rupiah dropped to Rp 12,900 per dollar. The current rate is already “compatible” with attempts to improve Indonesia’s current-account position, he added.

Last week, BI cut its interest rate by 25 basis points to 7.5 percent, in a surprise move that analysts said was a deliberate strategy to weaken the rupiah to boost exports. The rupiah has weakened by more than 1 percent since the interest rate cut.

“Bank Indonesia is apparently quite comfortable having a rupiah rate that is weaker than its fundamental, weaker than its fair value,” David Sumual, the chief economist of Bank Central Asia (BCA), said by phone on Friday.

BI wanted to have a weaker currency because central banks across the globe were now engaged in a “currency war”, a practice where monetary authorities deliberately depreciate their currencies to boost exports and improve competitiveness, David explained.

Analysts from investment banks such as BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley expect that the rupiah will fall below 13,000 per dollar this year as they argue that Indonesia’s large current-account deficit will spark bearish sentiments on the currency.

The rupiah would weaken to 13,000 per dollar in the first half of the year, but it had a chance of strengthening in the second half when the US Federal Reserve clarified its outlook on the US interest rate, said Wisnu Wardhana, an economist from CIMB Niaga.

“However, the rupiah could see further depreciation pressure if the BI rate is lowered again,” Wisnu said on Friday. “Lower rates could invite more imports, thus affecting the outlook of our current-account deficit.”

BI has estimated that the deficit in the current account — the broadest measurement of trade, which includes exports, imports, services and transfers — could reach 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, slightly higher than its 2014 figure of 2.95 percent.

However, BI’s executives have assured investors that the structure of Indonesia’s current-account deficit would be healthier this year, as most of the imports would be used for productive purposes, such as infrastructure spending, rather than fuel subsidies like last year.

This year, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has earmarked Rp 290 trillion for infrastructure projects classified as capital expenditure (capex) spending in the 2015 State Budget, up from Rp 190 trillion last year.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2....Y0hLdkvw.dpuf

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Gubernur Bank Indonesia Agus Martowardojo menyatakan tidak ada tekanan politik terkait kebijakan penurunan suku bunga acuan (BI rate) yang baru saja dilakukan oleh Bank Indonesia.

"Tidak ada tekanan politik. Ini (penurunan BI rate) adalah hasil dari kajian Bank Indonesia," ujar Agus saat jumpa pers di Jakarta, Selasa.

Sebelumnya, Wakil Presiden RI Jusuf Kalla sempat menyebutkan tingkat suku bunga acuan (BI rate) saat ini relatif tinggi.

Jusuf Kalla mengharapkan BI rate dapat turun sehingga suku bunga perbankan dapat lebih rendah sehingga mendorong pertumbuhan ekonomi Indonesia.

Deputi Gubernur Senior BI Mirza Adityaswara menuturkan, pihaknya melihat ekspektasi inflasi ke depan bisa berada di level bawah dari sasaran BI yakni 3--5 persen.

Selain itu, perubahan kebijakan energi yang dilakukan pemerintah juga menjadi pertimbangan Bank Indonesia dalam menurunkan suku bunga acuan.

"Ketika November ada kenaikan harga BBM tapo tidak dikaitkan dengan kebijakan fixed subsidy. Selain itu, sekarang kan tiap bulan pemerintah lakukan adjustment (terhadap harga BBM). Harga minyak juga turun signifikan kan," kata Mirza.

Mirza menilai, penurunan suku bunga acuan yang dilakukan saat ini masih sejalan dengan kehati-hatian Bank Indonesia untuk tetap menjaga defisit neraca transaksi berjalan dalam tingkat yang sehat.

Rapat Dewan Gubernur (RDG) Bank Indonesia baru saja memutuskan untuk menurunkan BI Rate sebesar 25 bps, dari sebelumnya 8 persen menjadi 7,5 persen. (Baca detilnya di sini)

Bank Indonesia juga memutuskan suku bunga Deposit Facility turun 25 bps menjadi 5,5 persen dan Lending Facility tetap pada level 8 persen, berlaku efektif sejak 18 Februari 2015.

http://www.antaranews.com/berita/480...ku-bunga-acuan

Indonesia's rupiah has been hit by a wave of selling following comments by the country's central bank governor that inflation will slow -- and it looks as though there's no near-term end to the fall, analysts say.

"The excitement over President Joko Widodo's election in 2014 couldn't last," said ANZ senior FX strategist Khoon Goh. "And now that the central bank has essentially endorsed a weaker rupiah, the momentum points to further selling (of the Indonesian Rupiah)," he said.


On Friday afternoon, Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo said consumer prices were likely to fall by 0.2 percent on a monthly basis, blaming a combination of lower fuel and stable rice prices.

The rupiah ran into some heavy selling after the comments, shedding 0.58 percent in 60 minutes and is trading now at 12,290 against the U.S. dollar, at its weakest level since July 1998.
"The central bank is probably comfortable with the rupiah in the 13,000 range, but a bigger sell off could trigger capital outflows," said Macquarie head of strategy, fixed income and currencies Nizam Idris.
The comments are putting further pressure on the rupiah. The rupiah lost 0.56 percent on February 17 after the central bank surprised with a 25 basis point benchmark interest rate cut, to 7.50 percent. The rupiah fell 0.81 percent between then and Friday's latest central bank surprise.

At the same time, the central bank admitted inflation would slow by the end of the year to lower end of its target 3 to 5 percent range, according to a Reuters report.

Buying Widodo's rupiah

In days running up and after the elections on July 9, Indonesia saw a flood of capital inflows.

The rupiah gained 4.88 percent to touch 11,495 against the U.S. dollar in the 20 days between June 25 and July 23. Since then, the rupiah has trended weaker as the excitement over Widodo's election faded, said Goh.

But with the current account deficit running at 3 percent of gross domestic product, "the inflows weren't sustainable," he said.

Goh has a target of 13,250 rupiah against the U.S. dollar, originally for the end of 2015.

Not only do investors have reason to sell the rupiah, but the dollar's strengthening momentum remains sold, he said. The dollar index has been perched at 12-year peak since last year.

"We could get there earlier of if the U.S. dollar continues to strengthen – particularly if next week's non-farm payrolls are strong," he said.

But a fall to the 13,200 rupiah level "could prompt foreign investors to start hedging their local currency assets and provoke a vicious cycle of capital outflows", warned Macquarie's Idris.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102461781