Compared to that in the previous year, the hajj cost this year declined by Rp308,700 with the rupiah exchange rate assumption at Rp8,700 per US dollar.
But if calculated in the US currency, the hajj cost increased by 195 US dollar to 3,537 US dollars from the previous year`s 3,342 US dollars.
Hajj pilgrims will pay two-way flight tickets from their embarkation points to Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia embarkation points US2,010 excluding airport tax amounting to 14 US dollars.
"The flight cost increased by 290 US dollars from that last year which was set at the average of US$1,734. Public service cost does not differ much from that of last year which was 1,029 rials or 277 US dollars. The government provides subsidy amounting to 177 US dollars from the Hajj Optimizing Funds," Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said on Friday.
The amount of BPIH this year for each of embarkation point of
Aceh is 3,285 US dollars, Medan (3,377 US dollars), Batam (3,460 US dollars), Padang (3,369 US dollars), Palembang (3,417 US dollars), Jakarta (3,589 US dollars), Solo (3,549 US dollars), Surabaya (3,612 US dollars), Banjarmasin (3,720 US dollars), Balikpapan (3,736 US dollars), and Makassar (3,795 US dollars).
The president is now expected to issue a presidential regulation on the BPIH so that pilgrims could pay up their hajj cost as soon as possible.
"We hope the president will soon issue the presidential regulation so that would-be hajj pilgrims will have enough time to pay up the cost," the minister said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
