Indonesian rupiah plummets to new multi-year low as inflation slows, PMI at record low

Indonesia's currency slumped to a new multi-year record on Monday as data showed inflation eased further while manufacturing conditions fell to the weakest level in history.

Another data showed tourist arrivals to the southeast Asian country decline sharply at the start of the new year. The January figures were 753,079 down 4% from December's 915,334.

USD/IDR broke through the 13,000 resistance barrier and traded at a high of 13,033, a multi-year high. So far this year, the rupiah has fallen nearly 5% against the dollar.

The price rise rate dropped to 6.29% from a year earlier in February from the previous month's 6.96% and distancing further from the December rate of 8.36%, which was a medium term high.

Indonesia's manufacturing sector continued to contract during February, that too at a slightly accelerated pace, data showed on Monday.

The manufacturing PMI calculated by HSBC/Markit slipped to a record low of 47.5 in February, down from January's 48.5 and slightly lower than December's 47.6.

"As new orders fell at a survey-record pace, reflective in part of rising prices negatively weighting on demand, the near-term outlook for the sector remains a little underwhelming, said Paul Smith, a Markit economist.

The PMI has now posted below the 50.0 no-change mark that separates growth from contraction for five months in succession, Markit said.

Indonesia's GDP growth rate has slightly improved in the fourth quarter of 2014 to 5.01% on a year-on-year basis from 4.92% in Q3, but the trend remains weak ever since it turned south in late 2011 when the expansion rate was 6.5%.