Indonesia: Govt to Include e-Money as Inflation Component

• Feb 02, 2018

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Central Statistics Agency plans to include digital currency as a component to calculate inflation. The e-money element will be included as an item in the financial services component.

“We will begin the survey, to see how many people use e-money,” BPS deputy for distribution and service statistics Yunita Rusanti said yesterday, Feb. 1.

The survey, which will also study the pattern of e-money use will be included in this year’s living costs survey, and is expected to take a year’s time before the result can be announced.

Bank Indonesia (BI) has also started a study on the possibilities of issuing its own digital currency, or the central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Bank Mandiri chief economist Anton Gunawan said the use of digital currency will have additional benefits, such as simplifying currency distribution in rural areas.

“The investment spent will be smaller,” he said.

Additionally, banks will be able to save on operating costs, thus charging lower transaction fees to customers.

Anton said that digital transactions are also easier to record, thus the use of a digital currency will be much more transparent, “and minimize corruption”.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2018/02/02/056915399/Govt-to-Include-e-Money-as-Inflation-Component