President to Sign Regulation on Expanding Mandatory B20 Soon

PRESIDENT Joko Widodo is expected to sign a new Presidential Regulation (Perpres) on expanding the mandatory use of 20 percent biodiesel blend (B20) fuel. The Perpres will launch on 1 September 2018 and will require the use of B20 by both subsidized (public service obligation/PSO) and non-subsidized diesel vehicles (non-PSO). Currently, B20 is only mandatory for vehicles that used Solar-branded subsidized diesel fuel. The President said the statement as he chaired a limited cabinet meeting in Presidential Office, Tuesday (14/8/2018). “Hopefully, the Perpres will be signed this afternoon or tomorrow at the latest so that The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources can follow up by issuing regulation regarding its implementation. The implementation will effectively start on 1 September,” Coordinating Minister of Economic Relation Darmin Nasution told the press after the meeting. During the meeting, The President requested updated information regarding the progress of the implementation of various programs. He asked a progress report on acceleration of the B20 mandatory program and implementation of policy on increasing use of local content material, especially for large SOEs that previously used many imported components in order to strengthen foreign exchange reserves. According to Darmin, the government has implement various scenario to strengthen foreign exchange reserves, including B20 mandatory program for PSO and non-PSO that is expected to increase B20 usage up to 4 million kiloliter. The government has also mentioned that the use of biodiesel could save foreign exchange reserves up to US$2,3 billion to this year. ***