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Indonesia: Finance minister tells exporters to heed new rule on foreign exchange earnings
A regulation requiring exporters to repatriate foreign exchange earnings from the export of natural resources officially took effect on Jan. 10, and the Finance Ministry is determined to ensure compliance.
“This is mandatory. That means the regulation must be enforced. There are consequences for those who do not respect the regulation,” Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in Jakarta on Wednesday, as reported by kontan.co.id,referring to Government Regulation No. 1/2019.
Under the regulation, exporters of natural resources are required to transfer their foreign exchange earnings to Indonesia.
She added that the Finance Ministry, Bank Indonesia and the Financial Services Authority (OJK) were formulating a supporting regulation, which is part of the economic policy package issued by the government in November 2018.
Under the regulation, there are three kinds of violations – first, exporters do not transfer their foreign exchange earnings into the Indonesian financial system; second, exporters of natural resources use the foreign exchange for prohibited activities; and third, exporters do not transfer the foreign exchange to their escrow accounts in Indonesia.
Punishment for violators ranged from suspension to the revocation of their export permits, Sri Mulyani said, adding that the ministry would issue a regulation stipulating the penalties and the types of natural resource businesses to which the regulation applies.
Susiwijono Moegiarso, secretary of the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister, said the government would grant exporters that bring home their foreign exchange earnings a discount on income tax payable on bank interest earnings. (bbn)
Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/01/24/finance-minister-tells-exporters-to-heed-new-rule-on-foreign-exchange-earnings.html