Indonesia’s rupiah has hit its weakest level ever against the US dollar, breaching the psychological 18,000 threshold amid surging energy costs.

The currency hit 18,028 against the greenback on Thursday, despite recent central bank efforts to provide support.

The energy shock driven by the US-Israel war on Iran has placed a significant strain on energy-importing Southeast Asian economies, particularly Indonesia and the Philippines.

The resulting pressure on trade balances has contributed to capital outflows and weaker currencies.

Gulf hostilities flared again on Wednesday, sending oil prices up more than 1 percent.

Adding to regional uncertainty, the United States has proposed additional import duties of 10 percent or 12.5 percent on goods from 60 economies, including Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, over alleged forced labour failures.

Permata Bank chief economist Josua Pardede said that an exchange rate of 18,000 was a “psychological threshold” for market investors.

The weakening, he told the AFP news agency, was fuelled by high dollar demand caused by the spike in oil prices and a narrowing trade surplus.

Indonesia is a net oil importer and is particularly affected by the rising crude costs, though the government insists it will leave subsidised fuel prices unchanged.

The country’s trade surplus has been hammered, narrowing to just $89m in April, from $3.3bn a month before, further reducing dollar supply in the Indonesian market, Josua said.

“Dollar supply from goods trade is dwindling, while dollar needs for energy imports, raw materials, dividends, foreign debt payments and seasonality needs remain significant,” he said.

“This is why the increase in the BI [Bank Indonesia] lending rate and intervention is not enough to reverse the rupiah’s [depreciation].”

The central bank hiked rates by 0.5 basis points to 5.25 percent last month – the first increase in two years – as it looked to stabilise the rupiah and keep inflation in check.

The central bank’s spokesman, Ramdan Denny Prakoso, said on Wednesday that it continued to use “all available policy instruments” to “maintain adequate foreign exchange liquidity”.

Bank Indonesia also tightened rules for dollar purchases.

Since May, buyers of more than $25,000 in a given month have been required to provide supporting documents to justify their need for US currency.

[Aljazeera]

Benjamin Netanyahu has played down reports of a rift with Donald Trump after the United States president confirmed that he recently called the Israeli prime minister “f****ing crazy”.

Asked during an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Netanyahu rejected the idea his ties with Trump have shifted: “No, this has been this has been a great relationship because he’s been the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.”

Netanyahu — who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crime charges in Gaza — added that the two leaders have mutual respect for each other.

“We have common goals. Sometimes, we have, as in the best of families, you have these tactical disagreements,” he said.

“We always find a way to work them out, and we do so as great friends. We can disagree in the morning, and by the afternoon, we have common action.”

The comments came after Trump told the New York Post that he berated Netanyahu during a call earlier this week over Israel’s escalation in Lebanon.

“I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon,” Trump said.

Israel’s attacks in Lebanon, including an announcement that the Israeli military would bomb the capital, Beirut, have risked derailing the talks between the US and Iran.

Tehran has suggested that it may respond militarily to Israel’s assault in Lebanon.

Trump said on Monday that he spoke to Netanyahu and a representative from Hezbollah, and both sides agreed to hold fire.

But the fighting in southern Lebanon, where Israel has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and razed entire towns to the ground, has continued.

The Israeli military, however, did hold off its attacks against Beirut.

Despite the apparent disagreement over Lebanon, Trump lauded the Israeli prime minister on Wednesday, saying that he “works well” with him.

“I like Bibi a lot,” he said, using Netanyahu’s nickname.

For his part, Netanyahu stressed that he and Trump are on the same page in Lebanon and share the objective of disarming Hezbollah.

“I think he understands that Lebanon has been taken hostage by Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said.

Hezbollah, which is allied with Iran, says it is fighting against Israel’s aims to expand into Lebanon and ethnically cleanse the south of the country.

The Lebanese group argues that its fighting is legitimate under the United Nations Charter, which grants the right to self-defence to states and individuals.

After Israel and the US attacked Iran without direct provocation on February 28, fighting spilled over into Lebanon. Two days into the conflict, Hezbollah launched rockets against Israel in what it said was a response to the daily Israeli ceasefire violations and the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Since the start of the regional war, several Israeli politicians have openly called for indefinitely capturing southern Lebanon and building settlements there.

In March, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz outlined a plan to occupy the south of the country and prevent hundreds of thousands of residents from returning to their homes.

Katz has also said he ordered “an acceleration in the destruction of Lebanese homes in contact-line villages”, admitting that the policy follows the model of the annihilation of Rafah and Beit Hanoon in Gaza.

But Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he wants “peace” with Lebanon.

“If we want to save Lebanon and if we want to get a Lebanese-Israeli peace, as I do, we have to disarm Hezbollah, and we have to demilitarise Lebanon,” the Israeli prime minister said. “I know that this is a goal that the president and I share.”

The demilitarisation of the entire country appears to be a new Israeli demand that would require preventing the Lebanese Armed Forces from acquiring weapons that could pose a threat to Israel.

Since April, Lebanese and Israeli officials have held several rounds of talks in the US, but the negotiations have failed to produce a ceasefire or halt Israel’s systemic destruction of Lebanese towns.

[Aljazeera]

On paper, it was registered as a nail salon.

In reality, it was allegedly a front for an adult content business run by an Israeli woman through the subscription-based website OnlyFans.

The woman’s company in the southern province of Krabi was just one of nearly 500 businesses – ranging from beauty salons to cannabis farms – that Thai authorities say were registered by a single accounting firm.

All of the companies were linked to foreigners who had falsely listed a Thai “nominee” as the majority owner to get around the law on foreign ownership, according to authorities.

Under the Foreign Business Act, non-citizens are generally prohibited from holding more than a 49 percent stake in local businesses.

To get around the rule, some foreign entrepreneurs pay locals to fill out paperwork stating that they own at least 51 percent of their company despite having little or no involvement in the business.

After years of turning a blind eye to the dubious use of Thai nominees, authorities are now cracking down and demanding proof that citizens listed as local partners have real holdings in the firms they are registered to.

After launching a wave of inspections across popular tourist areas and cross-checking official databases using artificial intelligence, the government has identified 50,000 foreign-linked companies for greater scrutiny.

Legal firms say they are being inundated with inquiries from foreign businesses and property owners who fear their assets could be frozen or seized if they are found to be part of illicit nominee schemes.

“All of them fear losing their investment and being charged with a criminal case,” Brian Ramsden, general manager of foreign affairs at Lawyers for Expats Thailand, told Al Jazeera.

“It’s always the same excuse: ‘We knew it was illegal, but the lawyers told us it’s OK,’” Ramsden said, explaining that his firm has been getting more than 100 calls a day, “asking us what to do”.

“If the company is not trading, it’s a red flag,” Ramsden added.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has been among those leading the charge against fraudulently registered companies.

On a tour of popular tourist areas in southern Thailand last month, Anutin pledged to throw the book at illegal businesses and take down any criminal organisations using shell companies, a matter of growing concern amid the proliferation of cyber-scam networks in Southeast Asia.

“In cases where … one person holds shares and owns over 200 companies, it is essentially selling companies, selling shells so that foreigners can go and conduct business,” he said.

“This violates the legislative intent of the law, and it is believed that we will be able to prosecute in this regard.”

On resort islands Koh Samui and Koh Phangnan alone, about 70 percent of the 16,800 “registered legal entities” are part-owned by foreigners, the Ministry of Commerce said following an audit last month, though it added that their foreign links did not necessarily mean they were breaking the law.

Last week, authorities said they had referred 28 foreign suspects to prosecutors following an investigation into fraudulently registered firms in the provinces of Phuket and Surat Thani.

The arrests came after authorities in Koh Phangan had earlier announced the confiscation of 30 plots of land worth approximately 150 million baht ($4.5m) and arrested two Thai nationals linked to illegal companies.

The enforcement push comes as some local businesses complain about being undercut by foreigners.

“There are foreigners who invest in villas and convert them into Airbnbs, and once they’ve developed them, Thai people can no longer touch them price-wise,” Thong, a prominent Thai businessman who asked to be identified only by his nickname, told Al Jazeera.

“It is not right for foreigners to own them completely because it means many Thai people get left behind. That’s the real problem.”

The crackdown has also prompted fears that legitimate foreign investors could find themselves on the wrong side of the law unawares, damaging Thailand’s reputation as a place to invest.

While condominium ownership rules mean that 51 percent of any development must be reserved for Thais, it is not unheard of for developers in hot spots such as Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya to sell entire apartment blocks to foreign clients.

On online forums, foreigners have shared horror stories about buying and leasing property in Thailand, including learning that they did not legally own the condo they bought because it had been reserved for Thai ownership.

Across Pattaya, foreign business-people and investors are in a state of “heightened wariness and stress”, said Victor Wong, a foreign investment and tax specialist based in Pattaya.

“The system is tightening without simultaneously expanding lawful entry points,” Wong told Al Jazeera.

“Clients are no longer looking for shortcuts; they are looking for sustainable, lawful structures that will allow them to continue operating in Thailand with confidence,” he said.

While the sudden enforcement of decades-old rules has sent a chill through the expat community, not all foreign residents are sympathetic to concerns about the crackdown.

“This isn’t Thailand’s fault,” said Ramsden of Lawyers for Expats Thailand.

“No one put a gun to the foreigners’ heads. They come to Thailand, and most of their common sense goes out the window,” he said.

“This is about the people not following the rules. This crackdown is going to be better and safer for Thailand.”

[Aljazeera]