Finance Minister Optimistic B20 Policy Save Forex Reserves US$2.3 Billion

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani has been taking a more optimistic view of economic recovery by implementing expanded B20 mandatory program. She is optimistic the policy could save the country’s foreign-exchange reserves up to US$2.3 billion (about Rp34.2 trillion) as targeted by the Government. `We still hope the B20 policy would reduce oil and gas import by the end of this year, roughly US$2.3 billion could be saved,` Sri Mulyani said in Denpasar on Tuesday (19/9/2018) as quoted by Bisnis.com. Sri said that some fiscal and monetary policies must be applied due to the increased US interest rates and tight liquidity. The policy is expected to narrow down trade deficit and to increase capital inflow. Sri also asked public to be more patient to see the effect of expanded B20 mandatory policy on trade balance performance. “Oil and gas imports are indeed so high that cause a deficit. We will see if the B20 policy and import tax increase is a trend or anomaly, ` Sri Mulyani said in Jakarta, Monday (17/9/2018). Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced on Monday that Indonesia recorded a trade deficit of US$1.02 billion in August, mostly as a result of oil and gas imports. Exports decreased by 2.9 percent month-to-month (mtm) to $15.82 billion, with the mining sector contributing the most to the deficit at 13.58 percent, while imports declined by 7.97 percent to $16.83 billion mtm. ***