Bank Indonesia Stands Pat, Tries To Push Banks To Boost Lending

Spot USD/IDR has advanced in the wake of yesterday's upswing in the greenback, staging a brief foray above recent four-month highs. The pair last deals +41 at IDR14,451 after printing a session high of IDR14,470.

• Bulls look for a continued rally through the 23.6% retracement of the Mar 23, 2020 - Jan 4, 2021 slide at IDR14,516, towards the upper 2.0% Bollinger band at IDR14,547. On the flip side, a pullback under the 200-DMA at IDR14,368 would open up Mar 12 low of IDR14,340.
• Bank Indonesia stood pat on interest rates yesterday, as had been widely expected. On the currency front, BI dropped the reference of the rupiah being fundamentally undervalued from its statement and highlighted the impact of higher U.S. Tsy yields & firmer USD on domestic currency.
• During the press conference, BI Gov Warjiyo deflected a question about the draft omnibus bill, which triggered concerns about potential erosion of central bank autonomy.
• Elsewhere, Warjiyo noted that banks with macroprudential intermediation ratio lower than 75% will have to boost their reserves in BI's current account from May 1, in what represents another attempt to encourage banks to lend.
• The OECD said Thursday that Indonesia's GDP is expected to grow 4.9% Y/Y in 2021 & 5.4% in 2022, but the impact of the pandemic may push as many as 10mn people into poverty.
• The gov't has launched two new airports in South Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara to improve connectivity and boost tourism flows in eastern Indonesia.
• The Energy Ministry announced the easing of metals exports rule on pandemic.
• Indonesian Econ Affairs Min Hartarto & Health Min Sadikin are due to give an update on movement restrictions at 13:00 local time.
• The Indonesian docket is virtually empty next week.