These are tough days for the central bank. For the first time since the fall of former president Suharto, Bank Indonesia (BI) has had to bend over backward trying to save the embattled rupiah. In a matter of weeks, the local unit has free-fallen from 9,600 to 11,900 to the US dollar, before strengthening at around Rp10,000.

Saving the rupiah is not an easy task. There are so many factors contributing to its downfall: economic, political, non