Indonesia has included mining companies owned by investors from South Korea, Japan and EU countries on a list of entities with access to more lenient FX earnings retention terms, its senior economic minister Airlangga Hartarto said on Friday.
Indonesia previously allowed miners from the United States, Canada, China and Australia to be treated more leniently in its earnings retention regime.
These eligible miners are still required keep at least 30% of the proceeds in the onshore financial system for a minimum of three months, as opposed to the entirety of FX earnings for a whole year.
The earnings retention policy, first introduced last year, was intended to increase domestic foreign exchange supply and help the falling rupiah, Jakarta has said.
Airlangga also said the government is considering removing the cap on the amount of foreign currency earnings that can be converted into rupiah for business operations, which currently stands at 50%.
(Reporting by Bernadette Christina, Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Martin Petty)
