Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has directed officials to ensure that the foreign exchange earned from exports is deposited domestically, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto has informed.

"The President has instructed that the export revenue must be deposited domestically. Hence, Bank Indonesia (BI) is expected to develop a mechanism to ensure that for a particular period, our foreign exchange reserve would be deposited and preserved domestically,” the minister said at a press conference following a cabinet meeting here on Tuesday.

The management of foreign exchange earned from exports is within the domain of the central bank, he said, adding that the government is expecting the development of financial system policies, which could increase the benefits from exports, particularly since Indonesia has recorded a surplus in its balance of trade in the past 30 months.

"We hope that (foreign exchange management) could ensure continued positive foreign exchange performance from our exports (achieved) for the last 30 months, positive balance of trade, and the safe balance of payment at only 1.3 percent of our GDP (gross domestic product),” Hartarto said.

Besides export issues, the economic outlook for 2023, COVID-19 handling policies, and mitigation steps for the food and energy crises were discussed during the cabinet meeting presided over by President Widodo, the coordinating minister said.

While the government has projected that Indonesia's economy will grow by 5.2 percent year-on-year in 2023, the national economy has been forecast to grow by 5.3 percent, he added.

"Some of our upside risks are positive progress in the COVID-19 handling and vaccination acceleration, support from the state budget, fiscal as our shock absorber, and the high commodity prices," Hartarto said.

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Translator: Indra Arief P, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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