JAKARTA: Indonesia's central bank will step up its currency intervention to defend the rupiah if the exchange rate weakens sharply against the US dollar, the head of its monetary management, Nanang Hendarsah, told Reuters on Monday.

Hendarsah said there was "nothing to worry" about the rupiah's 0.85pc drop on Monday, adding that Bank Indonesia (BI) had undertaken "measured" intervention in the spot market on top of its regular auction for domestic non-deliverable forward transactions.

"BI is in the market, but the most important thing is market mechanism works and many are selling their foreign currencies. It's just a matter of finding the balance because suppliers want to sell at higher levels," he said.