There's No Way 267 Million People Had Zero Cases

In a matter of weeks, the world’s fourth-most populous nation went from reporting zero coronavirus cases to having the highest death toll in Southeast Asia. Now its currency is tumbling, growth forecasts are buckling, the capital is under a state of emergency, and an archipelago of 18,000 islands has effectively sealed its borders.

With a global recession in the cards, it's hard to see how Indonesia's economy moves forward. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati may have been optimistic when she said Friday the expansion could slip to zero. The rupiah has shed about 13% this month, more than twice the decline of the South Korean won and Malaysian ringgit. More than $5 billion has fled the bond market so far in March, more than anywhere else in Asia, barring India, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That vulnerability explains the timid quarter-point interest-rate cut from Bank Indonesia last week when many counterparts took dramatic steps: Any more could have thrown the rupiah into a faster downward spiral.