Menko Airlangga Says The Government Is Discussing Plans To Require Exporters To Save 3 Months Of Export Proceeds

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs (Menko) Airlangga Hartarto said the government was discussing plans to require exporters to keep export proceeds (DHE) within the country for three months.

"So we discussed it for about three months, we are also discussing it with Bank Indonesia (BI) and others," said Airlangga at the State Palace, Jakarta, as quoted from Antara, Thursday, January 26.

He said the government was revising Government Regulation (PP) Number 1 of 2019 concerning Export Proceeds of Foreign Exchange (DHE) from Exploitation, Management, and/or Processing of Natural Resources. It is reported that the regulation on the DHE storage period will be included in the latest revision of the PP regarding DHE.

"The initiative permit is being drafted," said Airlangga.

According to Airlangga, the government plans to implement the latest regulations regarding the period for keeping DHE domestically in the first half of 2023.

"God willing (semester I 2023)," he said.

Airlangga explained that currently, the government needs to secure DHE because many countries are fighting over US dollar liquidity amid global economic uncertainty.

Moreover, Indonesia has enjoyed export growth and a trade balance surplus over the past 31 months. The increase in exports should be in line with the availability of foreign exchange in the country.

"We have to manage how the foreign exchange needs are available domestically," said Airlangga.

Global economic conditions, said Airlangga, also show the risk of capital flight due to the policy of increasing interest rates in developed countries. Therefore, Indonesia seeks to maintain the availability of foreign exchange or foreign currency liquidity in the country in order to maintain a balance between demand and availability of foreign exchange so that the stability of the rupiah exchange rate is maintained.

"The US continues to increase interest rates, we are worried about capital flight," said Airlangga Hartarto.

Previously, Airlangga was optimistic that the revision of regulations related to Export Proceeds (DHE) would increase the national foreign exchange reserves. Until the end of December 2022, Bank Indonesia (BI) reported the position of Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves of 137.2 billion US dollars.