Word: rupiah
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Indonesian President Suharto has only one reason for pegging the Indonesian rupiah to the U.S. dollar, says TIME Business Correspondent Bernard Baumohl: to bail out his relatives and cronies who have been quietly plundering the nation for decades. Suharto will likely set the rupiah-per-dollar rate at around 5,000 -- almost twice its current value, predicts Baumhohl. That gives his friends an opportunity to pay off their dollar debts in overvalued rupiah. "They'll save a fortune," says Baumhohl...
...desired effect on a nation that Thursday was gripped by panic. Indonesia's battered currency, the rupiah, rebounded Friday to close at 7,990, up from Thursday's record low of 10,550 to the dollar. The Jakarta Stock Market's index, which lost 12 percent Thursday, closed only 1 percent down after an early rally. Emissary teams from both the White House and the IMF are on their...
There was panic selling in the streets of Indonesia Thursday as international officials reacted to the possibility that Indonesia may default on its IMF loans. The rupiah lost 26 percent of its value in one day and the Jakarta Composite sank 19 percent at one point before recovering modestly to end the day down 11.95 percent...
...merchants find it all but impossible to get papers signed, exports loaded aboard ships or vital spare parts released from customs sheds. "The official just sits behind his desk and opens up a drawer," says the regional manager of an American company. "You start dropping in 10,000-rupiah [$24] notes until he says that's enough and closes the drawer." Suharto, to his credit, has regularly denounced komersial-isasi jabátan (abuse of office). But the sight of generals and poorly paid bureaucrats riding about Jakarta in chauffeur-driven Mercedes limousines indicates that the warnings...
...will meet in Amsterdam next week to decide how far they will go along with Suharto. One little example of Suharto's personal impact is the recent proliferation of his portrait throughout Indonesia. About the only place Sukarno's face still shows is on the old rupiah bills that his free-spending ways helped make almost worthless...