Indonesia has made an unusually bold move in its battle to stem foreign exchange outflows. In late October, state-owned oil company Pertamina asked its suppliers of diesel and crude to stop charging in dollars and instead choose the rupiah, or go for the euro, Chinese yuan, Japanese yen or Saudi riyal.
Jakarta hopes that as many suppliers as possible will opt for the rupiah to relieve the pressure on the currency, which has dropped to 20-year lows against the U.S. dollar. But even switching to the euro and other foreign currencies helps because the dollar has strengthened the most this year.
