Hi everyone!
Today I’ll try to explain Rupiah, the currency we use in Indonesia. I said try, because there are currently, like, 3 or 4 different types of notes for each nominal. I’ve never even seen all of them even though I live full-time in Indonesia, especially the 2022 ones, so hopefully the information I’ll give is correct. Also, do note that the pictures in this post are of low quality to prevent any crime being committed out of them (such as making fake money using these pictures).
Conversely, our central bank, Bank Indonesia, was founded on 1 July 1953, and the 5th of July is Hari Bank Indonesia or Bank Indonesia Day. A bit of history on why the commemorated day is different from the bank’s actual birthday: Shortly after our Independence in 1945, or more precisely on 5th of July 1946, a bank named Bank Nasional Indonesia (BNI) was formed by our government as our first central bank, with the main task of printing and distributing Indonesian currency which at that time was called Oeang Republik Indonesia (ORI). However, the Netherlands hadn’t accepted Indonesia’s declaration of independence yet and so, after the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference in 1949, BNI’s status as the central bank was revoked and its functions replaced by De Javasche Bank (DJB), who was still a Dutch-owned company. Starting from 1951, a movement to nationalized DJB was started until 97% of DJB’s shares was owned by Indonesian government and Bank Indonesia was established in 1953 as Indonesia’s central bank until now. This is why the Bank Indonesia Day is celebrated on 5th of July each year: to commemorate and appreciate Indonesian central bank’s contribution to Indonesia’s economy. Conversely, the original BNI became a regular bank after being stripped out of its status as central bank and, after going through some processes, became what is known today as Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI). It is operational and has the same initials, though the ‘N’ stands for different words.
However, the one who has the right to print new Indonesian money is a separate state-owned corporation called the Money-printing Public Corporation of the Republic of Indonesia (or ‘Perum Peruri’, short for ‘Perusahaan Umum Percetakan Uang Republik Indonesia’).
As a little insight, Indonesia’s currency is called Rupiah, with the symbol ‘Rp’, though internationally it’s called Indonesian Rupiah, with the symbol ‘IDR’. If you’ve seen my post about numbers in Bahasa Indonesia, you’ll notice that, different from the international (western) system, Indonesia uses full-stop (‘.’) to divide our numbers per 3 numbers. Our smallest currency is 100, and our biggest is 100.000. However, nowadays the 100 is almost worthless, and even 1.000 can’t get you much. As a comparison, a Big Mac (non-set but including tax) in Indonesia is priced Rp43.500 (per 16 June 2024), which is about USD 2.6. Though it’s also true that our currency is kinda weak, so the prices of products here are not that high for local products. For example, you can get a bunch of common vegetable, such as local spinach or pokchoy, for less than Rp5.000, which is around USD 30 cents. Imported products and services are a different matter.
Anyway, I’ll start with the banknotes and coins currently in circulation. Not all of these are still in production, but they are the ones currently accepted for transaction in Indonesia. These newer moneys typically have the picture of one national hero on one side and something that symbolizes Indonesia on the other side, such as famous places/sights, endemic flowers, and/or traditional dances. they also have some security features and subtly-raised symbols to help those with visual impairments.
Also note that the pictures are lined from the oldest version to the newest.
First, our smallest currency, Rp100. We have two versions of the Rp100 coins currently used.
Next, we have Rp200, still in coin form.
We also have the Rp500 coins.
The last coin is the Rp1.000 coin.
Different from the others, the nominal Rp1.000 doesn’t come only in one form. We have both coin and paper version of it. Here are the banknotes of Rp1.000:
As you can infer, we currently have five different types of the Rp1.000 nominal. Coins are more commonly found, though.
Now that we’ve touched the banknotes, we’ll continue to the next paper money, which is the Rp2.000 nominal. We have three different types, as you can see below.
The dominant colour for this nominal is said to be gray, but I personally think the newest one has a bluish tint to it which is not dissimilar to a washed-out Rp50.000 note, so be sure to check the nominal before taking them out.
Next, we have the Rp5.000 nominal, with yellow-orange colour dominating the notes:
Followed by the Rp10.000 banknotes, with four different types and magenta-purplish colour:
Then the Rp20.000 banknotes, with their green colouring:
Next, the banknote with second highest value, the blue-coloured Rp50.000 notes:
Lastly, we have the Rp100.000 banknotes, red in colour:
Of course, we didn’t always use those banknotes. For one, worldwide inflation means smaller nominal, such as the Rp25 and Rp50 we once had, no longer have significant use. Other than that, the advancement of technology means a better security feature needs to be implemented. As such, the older banknotes, which were deemed as not secure enough, became obsolete as payment media, though some people likes to collect them still, me and my cousin included. We also had an era when each province/territory has their own banknotes and also a time when we used the nominal ‘1 sen’, ‘5 sen’, etc., though it was changed overtime due to things like changes in policy and inflation. There are talks about denominating the current Indonesian Rupiah, though, so we never know when the system will change once again.
There is also another valid but rare note with the nominal Rp75.000, printed to commemorate Indonesia’s 75th independence day back in 2020.
Nowadays, though, people, especially the younger generation, tend to prefer to use e-money or e-wallet, whilst the older (and richer) generation prefer debit and credit cards, with the oldest generation (I’m talking about the ones born before our independence) and those from rural areas still prefer cash. Our central bank even came up with a system called QRIS where, by simply scanning a QR code generated for each merchant or even each transaction, people can pay through any internet and mobile banking application they have in their phones, provided there is internet there. Given this restriction, do note that in smaller cities or smaller shops, cash is still the preferred method of payment, especially the smaller banknotes. If you go to a small or remote place, it’s better not to bring the bigger banknotes, such as Rp50.000 or Rp100.000, as they may not have the change. However, some modern stores in bigger cities have started to only accept electronic payments and no cash, so do be attentive.
That’s all for now, I’ll (probably, if I don’t forget) update this page if (or when) there are new banknotes and/or changes in the system.
Thanks for reading. See you next time^^
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