CIDISS. In 2018, the rupiah weakened considerably against the United States dollar. Until now, the rupiah exchange rate almost IDR 15,000 per US dollar. Not only in the financial sector, this weakening has had a negative impact on a number of economic sectors, one of which is the retail sector.
As a result of the weakening of the rupiah, Deputy Chair of the Indonesian Retail Entrepreneurs Association, Tutum Rahanta said, retail industry players are correcting the 2018 retail sales growth target from 9-10% to only 5%. This was caused by the weakening of the rupiah against the US dollar and the imposition of income tax (PPh) on 147 imported commodities so that the price of goods sold to the consumer level also increased.
The weakening of the rupiah was one of the main causes of the weakening of the retail business, especially electronics. In addition to increasing the prices of intact imported products, the weakening of the rupiah also caused the prices of some raw materials to rise because they were still imported from abroad. If rupiah depreciation continues, retail sales performance will weaken and will not be able to match last year’s achievement.
Furthermore, the weakening of the rupiah exchange rate caused the selling price of a number of imported products to increase. This has become a dilemma for a number of entrepreneurs because the action that must be taken is to raise the selling price of the product, but that cannot be done simply because the increase in the selling price will reduce the consumer’s purchasing power.
Then, what should we do to be able to overcome the weakening of the rupiah exchange rate? It’s actually simple, that is, love rupiah and domestic products. Our country needs a lot of rupiah in circulation. Because what is happening now is actually more people convert their rupiah into other currencies because it is more profitable. Loving your own country will be more unfavorable, but who will save the rupiah if you are not an Indonesian citizen.
By: Mirwan Achmad *)
