RORY SALAZAR | Finanace | Contact
Back in the 2010s when Australia was great again, an Aussie in Bali could take a single Australian peso and convert that to 6,662 Indonesian rupiah.
That single peso could buy your drinks, your street food, even a bungalow for the night.
However, with the last few years of rising interest rates and commodity prices, the Aussie peso has fallen dramatically.
Meaning today that same single peso is lucky to buy you a dog-meat skewer down at Kuta beach.
In fact, the Advocate can report that the great Australian peso hasn’t been this weak since the global financial crisis in 2009.
However, in a sign that the future will be better than yesterday, analysts are predicting that our peso could rebound over the coming months, and may almost reach parity with the rupiah. And it could not come at a better time.
With thousands of Aussies desperately in need of a holiday after years of lockdowns, many are looking to the traditionally affordable travel option of Bali. And the coming tourism boom is being welcomed by Balinese locals.
For instance, The Advocate spoke with local purveyor of fine dog meats, Wayan Balik, who said he’s looking forward to again making some money after noticing a drop in the number of Aussies splashing out on fine meats compared to 10 years ago.
“Rude Aussies used to come in here and throw their pesos around like they owned the place. But not the last few years. Now they only buy the bargain basement Chihuahua meat, which tastes like rat.”
So to manager of Kuta Pontoon Resort, Mr Ketut, who is philosophical about a strong Aussie peso.
“While it’s nice to have a strong rupiah, we rely on Aussie tourism and so we don’t mind if their cute peso can reach parity with our currency, finally. Our Bintang singlets are starting to sell again, and rates of scooter hire are back up to 2015 levels.”
But despite the rebounding peso, not everyone is happy.
Take Aussie tourist, Dale Conn, who had this to say.
“Bali used to be way cheaper. I guess our peso doesn’t go as far it used to. I mean, back in 2010 you came here and you could buy all your mates dinner for under 100 peso. But yesterday, I bought a single chicken skewer down at Kuta beach and it set me back 13,500 peso. And it tasted like rat.”
More to come.
