Dollars Strengthen, Bahlil Highlights Indonesia's Import Dependence On Fuel And Elpiji

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia. (Photo: Aris Nurjani/VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Bahlil Lahadalia highlighted the impact of strengthening the United States (US) dollar on the energy sector.

Bahlil said, currently the global economic condition is increasingly uncertain, which has an impact on the rupiah exchange rate on the US dollar. Meanwhile, in the energy sector, one of the largest US dollar absorbers in Indonesia is also the energy sector used to import oil and LPG.

"We import our crude or import our fuel, including one year LPG, which requires around Rp500 trillion to Rp550 trillion of our foreign exchange. And we will definitely exchange it for dollars," said Bahlil, quoted on Friday, December 20.

Not only in the oil and LPG sectors, Bahlil said the strengthening of the US dollar also had an impact on the mining sector due to the need for parts, which mostly use US dollars.

"Regarding the business affairs of friends in the mine because the spare parts will definitely have an impact. But we can see that business actors can manage well," he continued.

For this reason, Bahlil again emphasized the importance of reducing imports to reduce the need for the US dollar.

The reason, he said, is that the fluctuation of the currency exchange rate is basically influenced by the law of demand, so that efforts to suppress the demand for dollars can help maintain exchange rate stability.

"Well, now our task is how to reduce imports so that our need for dollars is not too much. Up or down a value of a currency depends on the real demand law," said Bahlil.