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Money and Shopping in Indonesia


Money and Shopping in Indonesia

Indonesia's currency is the rupiah (IDR), abbreviated Rp. The rupiah's value plummeted during the 1997 economic crisis, but has strengthened again significantly in recent years. As of august 2011 you need about Rp 8,400 to buy one US dollar. The trailing three zeros are often abbreviated with rb (ribu, thousand) or even dropped completely, and for more expensive items you will often even see jt (juta, million). The largest banknote is the red Rp 100,000, which may only be US$10 but is still inconveniently large for most purchases. Next in the series are Rp 50,000 (blue), Rp 20,000 (green), Rp 10,000 (purple), Rp 5,000 (brown), Rp 2,000 (gray) and finally Rp 1,000. While the new, colorful large-denomination bills are easy to tell apart, the smaller bills and pre-2004 large notes are all confusingly similar pale pastel shades of yellow, green and brown and often filthy and mangled to boot. A chronic shortage of small change ? it's not unusual to get a few pieces of candy back instead of coins ? has been to some extent alleviated by a new flood of plasticky aluminum coins, available in denominations of Rp 1000, Rp 500, Rp 200, Rp 100, Rp 50 and the thoroughly useless Rp 25. Older golden metallic versions are also still floating around, and you may occasionally even run into a sub-1,000 banknote. Bills printed in 1992 or earlier are no longer in circulation, but can be exchanged at banks. US dollars are the second currency of Indonesia and will be accepted by anyone in a pinch, but are typically used as an investment and for larger purchases, not buying a bowl of noodles on the street. Many hotels quote rates in dollars, but all accept payment in rupiah. If you pay any bill in Indonesia with a credit card it will be charged to your account in rupiah, regardless of the currency you were quoted. Aside from the US dollar, other major international currencies are also widely accepted for a cash settlement, especially in more touristy areas.

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Indonesia Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.

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