What is the currency of Indonesia?

The currency of Indonesia is the Indonesian rupiah.

The rupiah is Indonesia’s official monetary unit, with the international code IDR and the symbol Rp. It is issued by Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank. One rupiah is theoretically divided into 100 sen, but sen coins and prices are no longer useful in ordinary commerce because their values are extremely small.

Indonesia introduced the modern rupiah in 1946, during the struggle for independence. It competed with currencies issued by the Dutch and with Japanese occupation money still circulating after World War II. The name “rupiah” is related to “rupee,” reflecting a wider South Asian and Southeast Asian history of currency names derived from the Sanskrit word rūpya, meaning worked silver.

Rupiah banknotes and coins feature Indonesian national heroes, landscapes and cultural symbols. Large numbers on prices can surprise visitors: everyday amounts may run into thousands or millions of rupiah. The rupiah is sometimes confused with the Malaysian ringgit, Thai baht or Philippine peso, but each belongs to a different Southeast Asian country.