Indonesian shoppers flock to Singapore as rupiah surges

Tourist arrivals will spike this year.

Buoyed by the resurgent rupiah, Indonesian holidaymakers are once again trooping to Singapore to shop and splurge, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The rupiah has surged 9.9 percent against the U.S. dollar over the past six months, second only to Malaysia’s ringgit among emerging markets, as slowing inflation and a nascent commodity-price recovery lured money to the nation’s assets.

“The rupiah has done really well this year and it makes things look cheaper elsewhere for Indonesians,” said Nizam Idris, head of foreign-exchange and fixed-income strategy at Macquarie Bank Ltd. in Singapore. “The currency will find support from decent yields and bottoming commodity prices.