Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto said decades of capital flight have been a key factor behind the rupiah’s long-term weakness, arguing that much of Indonesia’s wealth has flowed overseas despite years of trade surpluses.
“If someone says the rupiah is weak, it is because our wealth is flowing out,” Prabowo said at the closing of the 2026 Nahdlatul Ulama National Conference in Bangkalan, East Java, on Tuesday.
To illustrate his point, Prabowo cited Indonesia’s trade performance over the past 22 years, highlighting a gap between export gains and domestic economic benefits.Indonesia recorded trade surpluses in 17 of those years, generating cumulative gains of about US$436 billion, according to the president.
Prabowo said about 78 percent of that amount, or roughly US$343 billion, was transferred abroad by capital owners rather than being reinvested domestically.
The rupiah has experienced significant volatility over the past two decades, weakening from around Rp9,000 per US dollar in the mid-2000s to more than Rp18,000 per dollar during periods of global market stress.
