May 22, 2026 | 09:33 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bank Indonesia (BI) is expanding the foreign exchange placement instruments derived from natural resources exports (DHE SDA).This is achieved by permitting foreign currencies (other than the US dollar) to be deposited in the state-owned bank consortium (Himbara). The expansion of the term deposit scheme allows forex to be placed in state-owned banks with a tenor of up to 12 months.BI Governor Perry Warjiyo stated that the placement of DHE SDA will shift as exporters can now use non-US dollar currencies, such as the Chinese yuan, in addition to the US dollar."We also expand the currencies, which have previously only been in US dollars, but now we also expand to include non-US dollars. As you know, we have been deepening the foreign exchange market, wherein the Chinese yuan is now also transacted domestically," said Perry during a socialization event on export governance regulations at the Office of the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, Jakarta, Thursday, May 21, 2026, quoted by Antara.Perry stated that this step aligns with BI's efforts to strengthen the domestic foreign exchange market, particularly by promoting local currency transactions (LCTs) with China. The value of local currency transactions with China exceeded US$25 billion last year. This year, the value has reached around US$3.7 billion per month."We have cooperated with these banks, as well as with the central bank in China, so that there are already transactions in the country," said Perry. "With this situation, businesses with Chinese yuan can now directly conduct various transactions in the domestic market, ranging from cash transactions (spot), swaps, to forward transactions."The development of the DHE SDA policy is also carried out in conjunction with the expansion of placement instruments to provide greater flexibility for exporters in managing foreign exchange earnings. As is known, the government will implement new DHE SDA regulations under Government Regulations 2 and 21 of 2026, effective June 1, 2026.According to this policy, natural resource exporters must deposit all foreign exchange earnings from exports into the Himbara system. Exporters are also required to place a minimum of 30 percent DHE SDA for the energy and mineral resources sector and 100 percent for the non-energy and mineral resources sector in a special account within the Himbara system.The placement of funds is valid for a minimum of three months for energy commodities and 12 months for non-energy commodities. In addition, the limit for converting foreign exchange DHE to rupiah has been reduced from the previous 100 percent to a maximum of 50 percent.Read: Why Bank Indonesia Raised Its Benchmark Rate to 5.25 PercentClick here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
