Minister Of Religion Yaqut Visits Sri Mulyani Wants To Pursue Potential Hajj And Umrah Foreign Exchange Reaches IDR 200 Trillion

Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas (Aris Nurjani/VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas or Gus Yaqut said there was great foreign exchange potential originating from Hajj and Umrah because it had never been withdrawn by the government and there needed to be adjustments to the rules between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

This was revealed when he visited Finance Minister Sri Mulyani at the Ministry of Finance office, Friday, May 17.

Yaqut conveyed his arrival to meet Sri Mulyani in the context of friendship as well as discussing the potential for Hajj and Umrah foreign exchange for Indonesians that the Government has not been able to withdraw.

"One of them is discussing the economic ecosystem of Hajj, so far there are many Hajj and Umrah from Indonesia, an average of 1.5 million pilgrims for Umrah and Hajj 241,000 pilgrims. We can calculate how many foreign exchanges we can get from there, but no one has returned to Indonesia," said Yaqut at the Ministry of Finance complex, Friday, May 17.

Meanwhile, Yaqut explained, one of the reasons why this Hajj and Umrah foreign exchange had not yet entered Indonesia was because the government still needed to adjust the existing rules from the Saudi Arabian government.

Even so, Yaqut conveyed that with the number of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims of 1.74 million and an average of Rp. 10 million, it is estimated that the foreign exchange potential that can be taken from Hajj and Umrah reaches Rp. 200 trillion per year.

"Yes, if the Umrah count is 1.5 million a year, yes, the Hajj pilgrims are 241,000, say 2 million. If each spend IDR 10 million, it has been calculated IDR 200 trillion a year. The potential is huge," he said.

Regarding the implementation of the rules, Yaqut said that Indonesia needs to emphasize what the rules for entering investment from Saudi Arabia are, the rules for origin of the company, company ownership and so on.

However, Yaqut said there were several solutions from Sri Mulyani but could not be further informed because adjustments were needed first.

"Earlier there were several solutions from the Minister of Finance and we will try, but I have not dared to talk because we have to check first, but there are several solutions that we will test in the field like what," he concluded.