REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Two state owned enterprises (SOEs) will help government to maintain US dollar supply in Indonesia. Those enterprises are PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PT PN) and PT Pertamina.

"It has been decided. Pertamina is not allowed to buy US dollar from spot market," Minister of Industry, MS Hidayat, said on Thursday, September 26.

The policy starts to be implemented on September 23. Pertamina will only buy the US dollar from forward market instead. If Pertamina suffers from the lower foreign exchange rate in hedging process, then the losses will not be included as state losses.    

Hidayat admitted that the decision was an important one because Pertamina needed 150 million USD per day to import oil. "If Pertamina buys USD on daily basis then it will disupt the domestic dollar supply," he said. 

The disrupted dollar supply will only harm the stabilization of IDR exchange against USD. Meanwhile, government is trying to sell crude palm oil of PT PN directly to the market instead of using third party. The measure is taken to keep the dollar from CPO trade within the country. 

"In that case, we can keep the dollar within this country so the dollar supply will more sufficient," Hidayat said.

The shortage of dollar supply in domestic market is among problems faced by the government these days. While current account deficit adds more pressure to Indonesian economy.  

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika