Presidential decree on fuel purchase by exporters to be issued in April

Director general of oil and gas Rachmat Sudibyo said that a presidential decree on the purchase of fuel by the country's exporters would be issued in April, next year.

Rachmat said that the decree would rule exporters to purchase fuel by using foreign exchange instead of the local currency.

He said that the presidential decree was needed because the state-owned oil and gas company had been under strong pressure from exporters to allow them to use local currency in the purchase of fuel.

Exporters have been strongly criticized for parking their export earnings overseas. Indonesia's export performance had been at record levels this year. The return of some export revenue into the country would help effort to stabilize the exchange rate of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar.

The decree would be issued together with the announcement of a new increase in fuel price.

The government has plans to further reduce fuel subsidy next year which would raise fuel price by around 20 percent. (Godang S.)