The rupiah (symbol: Rp; currency code: IDR) is the official currency and sole legal tender in Indonesia. It is issued and managed by Bank Indonesia, while its banknotes and coins are produced by the state-owned Perum Peruri. The name derives from the Sanskrit rupya, meaning "wrought silver". One rupiah is legally divided into 100 , although regular currency is issued only in whole-rupiah denominations.
The republican government introduced (ORI) in October 1946 during the Indonesian National Revolution, when Japanese and Dutch-issued currencies were still circulating. Regional rupiahs were later used in the Riau Islands and West Irian, before being replaced by the national currency in 1964 and 1971, resepctively. The government redenominated the rupiah in 1965 at a rate of 1,000 old rupiah to one new rupiah, and Bank Indonesia became the sole issuer of banknotes and coins in 1968.
Indonesia used multiple exchange rates, fixed rates and managed depreciation before allowing the rupiah to float during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The rupiah fell to about Rp16,800 per US dollar in June 1998 and later recovered. Since then, it has depreciated sharply several times under the floating system. Proposals to remove three zeroes from the currency have not been implemented. Bank Indonesia is also developing a digital rupiah through Project Garuda.
Name, notation, and legal status The name rupiah derives from the Sanskrit rupya, meaning "wrought silver". Its symbol, Rp, is placed before the amount. In Indonesian writing, the symbol has no full stop or intervening space, while full stops separate thousands and a comma precedes decimal fractions; an amount may therefore be written as Rp50.000,00. Bank Indonesia's English-language material uses English number punctuation, as in Rp50,000. The ISO 4217 currency code is IDR. Indonesian law divides one rupiah into 100 sen, although the regular 2016 and 2022 issues use only whole-rupiah denominations.
The rupiah is Indonesia's currency. It is issued and circulated by Bank Indonesia, and must generally be used for both cash and non-cash transactions conducted in Indonesia. Businesses must also state prices for goods and services in rupiah. Exceptions include specified state-budget transactions, international trade and financing, grants to or from abroad, foreign-currency bank deposits and transactions otherwise permitted by law. Valid rupiah may not normally be refused, except when its authenticity is in doubt or a permitted foreign-currency settlement has been agreed in writing.
Earlier notes and coins remain legal tender until Bank Indonesia formally withdraws the particular issue. The rupiah is also used informally in Timor-Leste; the United States dollar is Timor-Leste's official currency and legal tender for cash payments.
Currency in circulation Coins
Bank Indonesia's current currency catalogue lists ordinary coins in denominations of Rp1, Rp50, Rp100, Rp200, Rp500 and Rp1,000. The current series consists of Rp100, Rp200, Rp500 and Rp1,000 coins, which entered circulation on 19 December 2016. Each of the four coins depicts a national hero. They were issued with seven banknotes as part of the 2016 series. Earlier issues did not automatically cease to be legal tender when the series was introduced. By value, Rp500 and Rp1,000 coins together accounted for about 84% of coins in circulation in May 2026; Bank Indonesia groups Rp100 and lower denominations together in its circulation statistics.
The Rp1 coin issued in 1970 and the Rp50 coin issued in 1999 remain legal tender, although neither denomination was included in the 2016 series. Bank Indonesia withdrew the Rp500 coin issued in 1991, the Rp1,000 coin issued in 1993 and the Rp500 coin issued in 1997 on 1 December 2023; later Rp500 and Rp1,000 issues remain listed in its current currency catalogue. Bank Indonesia has also issued commemorative coins for anniversaries and other special purposes. These are rupiah issues but are catalogued separately from ordinary coinage; several older commemorative series have since been withdrawn.
Banknotes
The current regular series consists of seven denominations: Rp1,000, Rp2,000, Rp5,000, Rp10,000, Rp20,000, Rp50,000 and Rp100,000. Bank Indonesia launched the series on 18 August 2022, with the notes officially issued and placed into circulation on 17 August. Their obverses retain the national heroes shown on the 2016 series, while the reverses depict traditional dances, natural scenery and Indonesian flora.
The introduction of the 2022 series did not withdraw earlier banknotes. The complete 2016 series and several older issues remain legal tender and are listed alongside the 2022 notes in Bank Indonesia's currency catalogue. More than one design of the same denomination may therefore remain valid at the same time. A banknote ceases to be legal tender only after Bank Indonesia formally revokes and withdraws its particular issue; the bank announces each withdrawal and the period during which the notes may be exchanged.
Bank Indonesia also issues commemorative banknotes separately from the regular series. On 17 August 2020, it issued an Rp75,000 note for the 75th anniversary of Indonesian independence. The note features Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, together with images representing the proclamation of independence, Indonesia's cultural diversity and its future development. It is legal tender throughout Indonesia and was the fourth commemorative banknote issued for an independence anniversary, following issues in 1970, 1990 and 1995.
Production and security features
Bank Indonesia controls the production cycle of the rupiah. It plans the amount and denominations required and is responsible for issuing, circulating, withdrawing and destroying the currency. Perum Peruri, the state-owned security printer authorised to produce rupiah, prints the banknotes and mints the coins. The banknotes use specialised inks, security threads and watermarks, while the coins are minted to specified dimensions and relief depths.
The 2022 banknotes use revised materials and security features intended to make them last longer, easier to recognise and harder to counterfeit. Features visible to the public include security threads, colour-changing ink, raised printing and watermarks. The Rp20,000, Rp50,000 and Rp100,000 notes have threads that appear woven through the paper, while the lower denominations have embedded threads. Certain printed areas are raised, including pairs of tactile lines intended for people with impaired vision; when held to the light, the notes display a hero watermark and an ornament.
Bank Indonesia advises the public to check banknotes using the "3D" method—dilihat, diraba, diterawang—meaning "look, feel, and hold to the light". A genuine note should have clear colours and the appropriate security thread; parts of its printing and tactile marks should feel raised; and its watermark and ornament should become visible when the note is held up to the light. A suspected counterfeit may be taken to a bank, the police or a Bank Indonesia office for examination.
History
Introduction and consolidation Before the Japanese occupation, the Bank of Java (De Javasche Bank) issued banknotes denominated in Netherlands Indies guilders. The Japanese military government later issued its own gulden- and rupiah-denominated notes. After Indonesia declared independence, Japanese currency and money issued by the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration remained in circulation while the republican government prepared a national currency.
Oeang Republik Indonesia (ORI) entered circulation on 30 October 1946. Disrupted communication during the Indonesian National Revolution led the government to authorise temporary regional issues, known as ORIDA, from 1947. In May 1950, the federal government withdrew ORI and ORIDA in favour of the currency of the United States of Indonesia; that currency ceased to be valid when Indonesia returned to a unitary state in August. Bank Indonesia issued its first banknotes in 1953.
Redenomination and monetary unification In October 1963, the government and Bank Indonesia introduced regional rupiahs in the Riau Islands and West Irian, replacing the Malayan dollar in Riau and the guilder then used in West Irian. The Riau rupiah was withdrawn on 1 July 1964 and replaced by the rupiah used elsewhere in Indonesia.
On 13 December 1965, the government redenominated the currency at a rate of one new rupiah to 1,000 old rupiah. The 1965 decree introduced a new rupiah and authorised Bank Indonesia to issue currency in all denominations. A 1968 law made the bank the sole issuer of banknotes and coins. In 1971, the national rupiah was introduced in West Irian and the regional West Irian rupiah began to be withdrawn, completing monetary unification.
Later developments Bank Indonesia continued to introduce new denominations and revise the design and security features of rupiah banknotes. It issued the first Rp2,000 banknote in 2009, followed by a new series of banknotes and coins featuring national heroes in 2016. A commemorative Rp75,000 note was issued in 2020 for the 75th anniversary of Indonesian independence, and a revised seven-denomination banknote series entered circulation in 2022.
Value and exchange-rate policy Indonesia's exchange-rate policy moved from multiple rates and foreign-exchange controls to fixed and managed arrangements, before the rupiah was allowed to float in August 1997.
Exchange controls and inflation, 1949–65 After the transfer of sovereignty in December 1949, the rupiah's official exchange rate was Rp3.80 per US dollar, but foreign exchange was distributed through controls and multiple effective rates. A certificate system introduced on 11 March 1950 required exporters to sell their foreign-currency earnings to the Foreign Exchange Fund. The certificates raised the effective return received by exporters to twice the official rate, while importers paid three times that rate. The system ended in 1953, but export premiums, duties and import licensing continued. In June 1957, the Export Evidence (Bukti Ekspor) system allowed certificates valued at the official rate of Rp11.40 per dollar to be traded by licensed users. Their market price rose to 332% of face value in March 1958 before the government fixed it.
By 1959, the official rate was far below the price of foreign currency outside the controlled system. The black-market price of one dollar rose from Rp100 to Rp150 between April and July, while the official rate remained Rp11.40. On 25 August, the government reduced the face value of Rp500 and Rp1,000 notes to one-tenth, froze 90% of bank deposits above Rp25,000 and devalued the official rate to Rp45 per dollar. The measures reduced the money supply temporarily, but deficit financing resumed and prices rose rapidly after 1960.
Multiple exchange rates persisted, while parallel-market premiums reached 2,678% in July 1962 and 11,100% in November 1965. On 13 December 1965, amid hyperinflation, the government replaced 1,000 old rupiah with one new rupiah; the change of unit did not immediately end the multiple-rate system.
Stabilisation and managed depreciation, 1966–97 The stabilisation programme introduced after 1966 brought inflation down sharply, reaching single digits by 1970. On 23 August 1971, the government changed the exchange rate from Rp378 to Rp415 per US dollar and maintained the new rate for seven years. By 1978, the government regarded the rupiah as overvalued and considered the fixed rate damaging to non-oil exports and domestic production. It devalued the currency to Rp625 per dollar on 15 November. The dollar peg was replaced by a closely managed rate set with reference to a basket of currencies.