REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Minister for State-owned Enterprises Dahlan Iskan and Governor of Bank Indonesia Darmin Nasution ban state oil and gas company Pertamina and state electricity PLN to buy dollars from the market. Pertamina so far bought dollars from the market through three state-owned banks, Bank Mandiri, Bank BNI and Bank BRI.
"The practice implies that Pertamina buy the dollars from the market," Iskan said on Friday.
Based on the agreement, instead of the market, Bank Indonesia as a central bank will provide the dollar for the three banks.
The minister said that the dollar needed by Pertamina accounted one-third of the country's dollar needs, as more dollar needed to buy the increasing imported fuel. He warns that Indonesia needs better management to reduce the fuel dependency and furthermore, also reduce the need of dollar.