Maintain the deficit record, the selective import of the government's promise

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia – Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the government would be selective in importing goods to reduce the current account deficit. This step is necessary to anticipate the exchange rate of the rupee compared to the decline of the US dollar.

One of the instruments used by Bank Indonesia (BI) to stabilize the rupee is the intervention in the money market using foreign exchange reserves. However, current foreign exchange reserves have been considerably drained.

BI data noted that currency swaps since the beginning of the year decreased by 6.89 percent from $ 132 billion in January to $ 122.9 billion due to depreciation of the rupiah by more than 4%. Indonesia's trade balance still records the deficit position. Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) showed that Indonesia had recorded a trade deficit of 2.83 billion US dollars from January to May. Therefore, it requires a selection of imports to avoid a prolonged deficit of a prolonged transaction

"At the same time, we began to examine the needs of imports, if this is really necessary for the economy Indonesian and whether in the form of raw materials or basic materials, "said Sri Mulyani in the House of Representatives (DPR) on Tuesday (3/7).

In addition, he did not mention the types of goods to select. However, imported goods must be considered in terms of urgency

"If the import of raw materials is probably intended to support production, if equipment goods that support large projects, especially those related to government projects, we will see this content.And if this project urgent was resolved and had to import equipment goods, "he said.

Nevertheless, he acknowledged that the selection of imported goods could certainly recover the current account deficit drastically. However, if subsequent imports of capital goods and raw materials are selected, this could hinder investment and then hinder economic growth.

The Government will therefore examine the extent to which this economic growth can be tolerated by this stabilization action. "There is pressure, but we want to clarify the government's response," he said.

The BPS data show that total imports from January to May 2018 reached $ 17.64 billion. Of these, 74.53% of raw materials, 16.25% are capital goods and 9.22% are consumer goods. (lav / bir)