Google Reveals Cause of Rupiah Rate Strengthening to 8,170 per US Dollar

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta -  spoke up about the appearance of the site's page on Saturday afternoon, which showed information on the rupiah exchange rate to the United States (US) dollar at 8,170.65.

"We are aware of an issue affecting the (IDR) exchange rate information on Google Search. Currency conversion data comes from a third-party source," said a Google representative in a statement, Saturday, February 1, 2024, as quoted by .

After receiving a report of the inaccuracy, Google immediately asked the data provider to immediately correct the incorrect information. "When we learned of the inaccuracy, we contacted the data provider to correct the error as soon as possible," said a Google representative.

Previously, it was reported that the appearance of the Google site on Saturday afternoon was problematic because it showed the rupiah exchange rate to the United States (US) dollar at 8,170.65. Not only that, other currencies such as the Euro also had errors because their exchange rates were at 8,348.50 instead of IDR 16,889.

Meanwhile, the day before, on Friday, January 31, 2025, the rupiah exchange rate at the close of trading that day weakened by 49 points or 0.3 percent to IDR 16,305 per US dollar from the previous IDR 16,257 per US dollar. Bank Indonesia's Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (JISDOR) also weakened to IDR 16,312 per US dollar from the previous IDR 16,259 per US dollar.

Head of the Bank Indonesia Communication Department Ramdan Denny Prakoso previously said that the data displayed was incorrect. "The US$/IDR (Indonesian Rupiah) exchange rate of 8,100 as on Google is not the level it should be," he said in an official statement, quoted Saturday, February 1, 2025.

Previously, money market observer Ibrahim Assuaibi suspected that the rupiah exchange rate data of 8,170.65 per US dollar on the Google display was a hacker attack. He believes that the hackers are playing with the rupiah exchange rate as an expression of their disappointment.

The assumption takes into account President Prabowo Subianto's target of pursuing economic growth of 8 percent. According to Ibrahim, the rupiah exchange rate data on Google is a hacker's way of showing that the rupiah could be worth Rp 8,000 if Indonesia's economic growth in 2025 reaches 8 percent.

In fact, there are differences in predictions from various parties. Bank Indonesia (BI) estimates economic growth to only be in the range of 4.8 percent-5.1 percent, while the Ministry of Finance projects 5.2 percent. BI also revised its projection for Indonesia's economic growth to 3.3 percent.

Ibrahim explained that the economic conditions of the lower middle class still face various challenges, especially related to the risk of a spike in unemployment. On the other hand, the centralized Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program is feared to not be optimal in driving economic growth. If public consumption increases but investment stagnates, then the economy will find it difficult to grow significantly.

Meanwhile, in terms of the global economy, US President Donald Trump's policies are feared to affect Indonesia's economic performance. In January and February, a trade war is expected between the US and China, Europe, Canada, and Mexico. In addition, Trump also threatened to impose a 100 percent fine on BRICS member countries that do not use the US dollar in international trade.

Moreover, according to Ibrahim, The Federal Reserve () decided to maintain interest rates even though Trump asked them to make adjustments. The various economic turmoil could be a trigger for the rupiah exchange rate to be manipulated by hackers. "This is most likely only momentary, on Monday it will return to normal," he said.

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