Indonesian rupiah

Indonesian rupiah
Rp
The rupiah (symbol: Rp; currency code: IDR) is the official currency of Indonesia. It is issued and controlled by Bank Indonesia. The name "rupiah" is derived from the Sanskrit word for silver, (रूप्यकम्). Sometimes, Indonesians also informally use the word perak ("silver" in Indonesian) in referring to rupiah in coins. The rupiah is divided into 100 sen, although high inflation has rendered all coins and banknotes denominated in sen obsolete.

Introduced in 1946 by Indonesian nationalists fighting for independence, the currency replaced a version of the Netherlands Indies gulden, which had been introduced during the Japanese occupation in World War II. In its early years, the rupiah was used in conjunction with other currencies, including a new version of the gulden introduced by the Dutch. The Riau Islands and the Indonesian half of New Guinea (Irian Barat) had their own variants of the rupiah in the past, but these were subsumed into the national rupiah in 1964 and 1971, respectively (see Riau rupiah and West Irian rupiah).

A long-running proposal to redenominate the rupiah has yet to receive formal legislative consideration. Since 2010, Bank Indonesia, as the monetary authority of Indonesia, has repeatedly urged the elimination of the final three zeroes of the currency, to facilitate transaction handling, saying the move would not affect its value. In 2015, the government submitted a rupiah redenomination bill to the House of Representatives, but it has not yet been deliberated. In 2017, Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo reiterated the call, saying that if redenomination started immediately, the process could be complete by 2024 or 2025.

Country
  • Indonesia
    Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and the 14th-largest country by area, at 1,904,569 km2. With around 280 million people, Indonesia is the world's fourth-most populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world's most populous island, is home to more than half of the country's population.

    As the world's third largest democracy, Indonesia is a presidential republic with an elected legislature. It has 38 provinces, of which nine have special status. The country's capital, Jakarta, is the world's second-most populous urban area. Indonesia shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and the eastern part of Malaysia, as well as maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and India. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support one of the world's highest level of biodiversity.