Some entrepreneurs have begun to worry about the continuous depreciation of the Rupiah's exchange rate in recent times. The current state of the Rupiah is also difficult to tolerate from a business perspective. Quoting Bloomberg, on Thursday (10/26), the Rupiah weakened by 0.31% to reach Rp 15,920 per US dollar. The Indonesian currency is increasingly threatened to fall to Rp 16,000 per US dollar.

The General Chairman of the National Association of Indonesian Importers (GINSI), Subandi, stated that the Rupiah's depreciation has significantly impacted import businesses. Apart from the prices of foreign goods being affected by transactions in US dollars, domestic logistics costs have also increased. This is because some transactions in container ports are still conducted in US dollars.

"The strengthening of the US dollar is also followed by other foreign currencies such as the yuan and yen, affecting all imported commodities, including food," Subandi said on Thursday (10/26).

To avoid greater losses, importers will reduce import volumes and production, adjust product sizes, temporarily postpone import activities until the Rupiah returns to a reasonable level, or even raise selling prices to end consumers. However, adjusting pricing policies is not easy to implement due to the current sluggish purchasing power of the public.

GINSI believes that the ideal exchange rate for importers is in the range of Rp 14,500 to Rp 14,700 per US dollar. Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the Indonesian Export Companies Association (GPEI), Toto Dirgantoro, stated that in theory, the depreciation of the Rupiah could be a blessing for exporters whose raw materials come from within the country, such as the furniture industry. However, in reality, global market demand, especially from developed countries, has decreased due to economic uncertainty. On the other hand, the Rupiah correction is disadvantageous for export companies that rely on imported raw materials, especially if export demand also weakens.

Toto emphasized, "The depreciation of the Rupiah does not automatically lead to increased exports." Currently, exporters are struggling to find new export markets with more stable economic conditions. This is not easy because Indonesian exporters must compete with exporters from several other countries to capture markets.

GPEI believes that the current exchange rate of the Rupiah is already considered high for businesses of any kind. The current situation is challenging as the Rupiah's depreciation is strongly influenced by various global factors. It is uncertain to what extent the government and the Bank of Indonesia can intervene in the market through various monetary policies to prevent further Rupiah depreciation.

"For us, an exchange rate of around Rp 15,000 per US dollar is already relatively safe, as long as it does not experience significant fluctuations," Toto concluded.