DHE Funds Still Flowing Abroad, Government Prepares New Regulations

Rupiah (photo: dock. Antara)

JAKARTA - The government is preparing a revision of the provisions regarding the Natural Resources Export Result Foreign Exchange (DHE) (SDA). This step was taken to ensure that export proceeds that have been placed domestically do not flow back abroad.

Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi explained that the arrangement effort was carried out after it was found that there was a practice of transferring funds from the DHE placement account to another account.

"There is data that says that it was removed again from the account. It should have been moved to another place as well," Prasetyo told the media crew, quoted Thursday, October 23.

According to him, the government is currently investigating the practice as well as preparing new regulations so that the placement of DHE is truly in accordance with its original goals.

"This is again being sought (repair), that's why the regulations are how to ensure that even if it is really disbursed, that is the intended designation. The meaning of this DHE is so that many of them are stored domestically, right, not sent abroad," he said.

Prasetyo added that the technical discussion on the revision of the DHE regulations is still ongoing. "Technically discussed", he explained.

Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia (BI) revealed a number of obstacles that made the implementation of Government Regulation (PP) Number 8 of 2025 concerning DHE SDA not having a significant impact on increasing foreign exchange reserves.

BI Senior Deputy Governor Destry Damayanti said that the level of exporter compliance with these provisions was relatively high, reaching 95 percent.

He added that almost all SDA DHE funds had been placed in special accounts (resksus) and of the total funds placed in the special account, around 78.2 percent were used to convert to foreign currencies, so this contributed to an increase in US dollar supply in the domestic foreign exchange market.

However, he added that the increase in supply has not directly increased national foreign exchange reserves, as most foreign exchange funds are used to meet domestic market needs.

Furthermore, Destry revealed that in the last two months there has been a large capital outflow, so Bank Indonesia needs to use some foreign exchange reserves to intervene in the market, including financing dividend payments, repatriation, and foreign loans.

"But the point is for PP DHE, I think so far I have carried out what is mandated," he explained.

BI data shows that from September to October 20, 2025, portfolio investment recorded a net outflow of 5.26 billion US dollars. Meanwhile, Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves at the end of September 2025 were recorded at 148.7 billion US dollars, down from the position in August 2025 which amounted to 150.7 billion US dollars.