Dasco: Regulation on Mineral Exchange Must Be Completed This Year

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Sufmi Dasco Ahmad/ANTARA/Fath Putra Mulya)

JAKARTA - Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Sufmi Dasco Ahmad said the regulation regarding the mineral exchange, as encouraged by President Prabowo Subianto, must be completed by 2026.

"It must be this year (2026)," Dasco said, quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, August 15.

Regarding the mechanism for discussing the regulation, Dasco said the government could request a meeting with the DPR.

"Later we will just ask whether this is a government proposal or a DPR proposal and we will do it according to the mechanism. And indeed, if now in the DPR, if it is not too much and not too crucial, it can be fast, yes," he explained.

Previously, President Prabowo Subianto targeted Indonesia to have a Strategic Mineral and Commodity Exchange which began operating on January 1, 2027.

In the presentation of the Government's Introduction/Explanation of the Bill on the 2027 Budgetary Year APBN and its Financial Note, Friday, the President hopes that the provisions for the exchange's implementation can be immediately discussed and published by the DPR.

"With the support of the DPR, our plan is that on January 1, 2027 we will have our own commodity exchange. We target, the provisions for the implementation of the Strategic Mineral and Commodity Exchange will be discussed immediately with the DPR RI and please be published in the shortest possible time," he said.

The President said the establishment of the exchange was a continuation of the one-stop export policy being implemented by the government. The government has also discussed the plan with the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

According to him, Indonesia has been one of the world's largest producers of various strategic commodities, such as palm oil, nickel, tin, coal, coffee and rubber, for decades.

However, he assessed that the prices of a number of Indonesian commodities have so far been determined through commodity exchanges abroad. This condition, said the President, needs to be changed so that Indonesia as a producer country has a greater role in determining commodity prices.

"Those who don't have these commodities have a certain period to determine the price of the commodity. This doesn't make sense. I don't understand where he was taught economics like this. We who have goods, others who determine the price," he said.

The government will operationalize the Strategic Mineral and Commodity Exchange under the supervision of the OJK. Through the exchange, the government targets the formation of Indonesia Reference Price or Indonesia reference price for various major export commodities.

According to the Head of State, the exchange will later bring together producers, farmers, exporters, buyers and investors in a supervised system.

With more transparent transaction data, the government hopes that the space for fraudulent practices can be narrowed further.

By Fath Putra Mulya