Jakarta (ANTARA) – Bank Indonesia (BI) is optimizing its monetary instruments, specifically by strengthening pro-market monetary operations, to stabilize the rupiah amid global uncertainty caused by the ongoing Middle East conflict.“Amidst very high global uncertainty, stability is currently a priority for Bank Indonesia,” BI senior deputy governor Destry Damayanti said in her statement on Tuesday.She explained that BI consistently and measurably operates in the money market, including the spot market, domestic non-deliverable forwards (DNDF) in the domestic market as well as non-deliverable forwards (NDF) in the offshore market.She also emphasized that the impact of the Middle East conflict is two-way: rising commodity prices and Indonesia’s position as an exporting nation can have a positive effect on the economy, thereby offsetting the pressure on the exchange rate caused by this escalation.The rupiah exchange rate at the close of trading on Tuesday weakened 70 points, or 0.41 percent, to Rp17,105 per US$, from the previous close of Rp16,980 per US$.Meanwhile, BI’s Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (JISDOR) also weakened to Rp17,092 per US$, from Rp17,037 per US$.In the face of global uncertainty, BI has stated that it would calibrate its rupiah intervention instruments by adjusting its response to three scenarios of the war’s impact: moderate, medium, and high global oil prices.These efforts were also strengthened by maintaining foreign exchange reserves and responding to interest rate policy.“We continue to optimize our monetary policy with three intervention instruments, ensuring sufficient foreign exchange reserves, reinforced by interest rate policy,” BI Governor Perry Warjiyo said earlier in March.The central bank believes that Indonesia’s balance of payments (BOP) performance needs to be continuously strengthened to mitigate the impact of the Middle East war.Various efforts to strengthen the balance of payments performance are also expected to support the stability of the rupiah exchange rate.According to the latest data, Indonesia’s trade balance recorded a surplus of US$1.27 billion in February 2026, an increase compared to the US$0.95 billion surplus in January 2026.Meanwhile, Indonesia’s foreign exchange reserves remained stable at US$151.9 billion at the end of February 2026.This amount is equivalent to financing 6.1 months of imports or 5.9 months of imports and servicing government external debt, and is above international adequacy standards.