rupiah

Indonesian rupiah rupiah Indonesia (Indonesian)
Rupiah banknotes, only the Rp 1000 and Rp 5000 notes are current
ISO 4217 Code	IDR
User(s)	Indonesia
Inflation	6.95 %
Source	Bank Indonesia, Sept 2007
Subunit
1/100	sen
Symbol	Rp
Coins
Freq. used	Rp 100, 200, 500
Rarely used	Rp 25, 50, 1000
Banknotes
Freq. used	Rp 1000, Rp 5000, Rp 10 000, Rp 20 000 Rp 50 000, Rp 100 000
Rarely used	Rp 500
Central bank	Bank Indonesia
Website	www.bi.go.id

The rupiah (Rp) is the official currency of Indonesia. Issued and controlled by the Bank of Indonesia, the ISO 4217 currency code for the Indonesian rupiah is IDR. The symbol used on all banknotes and coins are Rp. The name derives from the Indian monetary unit rupee. Informally, Indonesians also use the word "perak" ('silver' in Indonesian) in referring to rupiah. The rupiah is subdivided into 100 sen, although inflation has rendered all coins and banknotes denominated in sen obsolete.

The Riau islands and the Indonesian half of New Guinea (Irian Barat) had their own variants of the rupiah, but these were subsumed into the national rupiah in 1964 and 1971 respectively (see Riau rupiah and West New Guinea rupiah).

First Rupiah, 1945-1965

The first rupiah was introduced in 1945. During the Indonesian War of Independence (1945-1949), the rupiah circulated alongside the Netherlands Indies gulden (including issues of the Japanese government, the Javanese Bank (Java rupiah) and the Dutch Government (NICA gulden)) and the Netherlands Indies roepiah, which had also been issued by the Japanese government. By the end of 1949, the Republic's rupiah had replaced the other currencies throughout Indonesia.

First rupiahs

Coins

The early issues of the first rupiah were banknotes. Coins were introduced in 1951 and 1952, in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 sen. These were produced until 1961.

Banknotes

The government of the "Republik Indonesia" introduced the rupiah in 1945 with banknotes in denominations of 1 sen up to 100 rupiah. 250 rupiah notes were added in 1947. A series of notes issued in 1948 included the rather unusual denominations of 40, 75 and 400 rupiah. In 1950, the government of the "Republik Indonesia Serikat" issued 5 and 10 rupiah notes. These were followed between 1951 and 1961 by 1 and 2½ rupiah notes issued by the Republik Indonesia government. In 1952, the "Bank Indonesia" introduced notes in denominations of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500, and 1000 rupiah. All notes except 5 rupiah were printed by Johan Enschede en Zonen. The 5 rupiah note was printed by Thomas De La Rue & Co. Ltd., England.

On 1957, Bank Indonesia issued new banknotes (animal series) in denominations of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 2500, and 5000 rupiah. 10 & 25 rupiah for this series were withdrawn after circulating for a few days and the 5000 rupiah, although had been printed, this note was never issued for circulation. All of these notes were printed by Thomas De La Rue & Co. Ltd., England. These notes circulated for a short period, as all notes above 100 rupiah were devalued by 1/10.

Banknotes from series 1958 were printed by P. T. Pertjetakan Kebajoran. 5,000 rupiah from this series has 2 varieties, brown & violet.

On 1959, Bank Indonesia issued new banknotes (flower series) in denominations of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500, 1000, and 2500 rupiah. These notes were printed by Thomas De La Rue & Co. Ltd., England. The 2,500 rupiah of this series was never issued for circulation, after a decision for discontinuing this denomination. Only a several specimens in different color exist in private hands.

Second Rupiah, 1965

Rampant inflation caused, on December 13, 1965, the new rupiah to be introduced at a rate of 1000 old rupiah to one new rupiah.[1]

The Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998 reduced the rupiah's value by 35% overnight and was a major factor in the overthrow of President Suharto's government. The rupiah had traded at about 2000-3000 rupiah per 1 USD, but reached a low of 16,800 rupiah per dollar in June 1998.

The rupiah is a freely convertible currency, but trades at a discount compared to its PPP-based valuation, due to continued high inflation. As of August 2006, 1 USD is worth approximately Rp 9100. Inside Indonesia the preferred currency for exchange is the US dollar. Other currencies are typically subject to a wide exchange spread.

Coins

Coins were reintroduced in 1970, with 1, 2 and 5 rupiah denoiminations, to which 10, 25 and 50 rupiah pieces were added in 1971 and 100 rupiah coins in 1973. From 1991, a new coinage was introduced consisting of 25, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 rupiah coins. 200 rupiah pieces were introduced in 2003.

There are presently two series of coins in circulation: aluminum bronze and bi-metallic coins from 1991-1998 and light-weight aluminum coins from 1999 onwards. Due to the low value and general shortage of small denomination coins (below 100 rupiah), it is common to receive sweets in lieu of the last few rupiah of change in supermarkets and stores^{[citation needed]}.

Banknotes

5000 rupiahs

The second rupiah initially consited of a series of notes issued by the Bank Indonesia (dated 1964) in denominations from 1 sen up to 10,000 rupiah. A second issue of banknotes, dated 1968, was of 1 up to 10,000 rupiah. After this issue, notes below 100 rupiah were replaced by coins. In 1992 and 1993, 20,000 and 50,000 rupiah notes were introduced, followed by 100,000 rupiah notes in 1999.

There are two series of banknotes currently in circulation, with the 2004–2005 series gradually replacing the 1998–2001 series. Pre-1997 notes are no longer legal tender but can be exchanged in Bank Indonesia offices. As the smallest current note is worth approximately US$0.10, even small transactions such as bus fares are typically conducted with notes, and the 1,000 rupiah note is far more common than the 1,000 rupiah coin.

Indonesian bank notes are typical paper notes, although polymer notes have been issued on two occasions. In 1993, five million polymer 50,000 rupiah notes were issued to commemorate "25 years of economic development", featuring Soeharto on the front and Soekarno-Hatta airport on the back, with a plane taking off to symbolise Indonesia's growth. The 1999 series 100,000 rupiah note was also plastic/polymer, issued because according to Bank Indonesia plastic would be harder to counterfeit and would last longer. However, the notes were not popular in banks as counting machines were unable to count them accurately and there have been issues with the money sticking to one another due to the heat of the machine. Therefore, the current (2004) series is now made from paper.

Security features

Collection of 50,000 rupiah bills clearly displaying the security threads.

• The materials of the banknotes basically are long fibres from any kind of wood, or a mix of different types of wood. However, the preferable material is the Abaca fibre, which is naturally plentiful in Indonesia and is believe to increase the durability of the banknotes. The banknotes are made with the process of heating, to create a unique type of pulp.

• The minimum security features for naked eyes are watermarks, electrotypes and security threads with color fibres. In addition to this, extra features may be included, such as holograms, Irisafe, irredescent stripes, clear windows, metameric windows and gold patches.
  • Watermark and Electrotype are made by controlling the gap of density of the fibres which create certain images for the banknotes. This is done to rise the quality of the notes from the aestethic view.
  • Security threads are put in the middle of the note's materials so horizontal and vertical lines are showns from top to bottom. The threads also can be made with many variations such as the materials, size, color and design.

See also

• Netherlands Indian gulden
• Netherlands Indian roepiah
• West New Guinean gulden
• West New Guinean rupiah
• Riau rupiah
• Economy of Indonesia

References

External links

• Don's World Coin Gallery - Indonesia
• Ron Wise's World Paper Money - Indonesia ^{Mirror site}
• Tables of Modern Monetary Systems by Kurt Schuler - Asia ^{Mirror site}
• The Global History of Currencies - Indonesia
• Global Financial Data data series - Indonesia Rupiah
• Global Financial Data currency histories table ( Microsoft Excel format)
• Will's Online World Paper Money Gallery Images and information on banknotes from around the world, including a nice section with information and images of both current and historic Indonesian banknotes
• Daily Rupiah exchange rates from other currencies (Bank Indonesia rates)
• Polymer Notes - Indonesia
• Indonesian Government Security Printing and Minting Corp. (PERURI)
• Identifying the authenticity of Rupiah banknotes and coins (Bank Indonesia)
• Information on Rupiah (expat.or.id)

be-x-old:Інданэзійская рупіяbpy:ইন্দোনেশিয়ান রূপিয়া

Donate to Wikimedia