Arya News - From Jan 1, 2026 exporters of natural resources in Indonesia must deposit foreign-currency export proceeds only in state-owned banks, and will be limited to converting no more than 50% into rupiah — aimed at stopping past loopholes that let funds leak offshore.
JAKARTA – The government plans to tighten rules on how natural resource exporters must keep their entire export receipts (DHE) starting at the turn of the year, aiming to close lingering loopholes that have allowed funds to leak offshore. However, experts warn that the stricter requirements could strain liquidity and unsettle investors.
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said on Monday that starting Jan. 1, 2026, “many” natural-resource exporters would be required to deposit their foreign-currency proceeds exclusively in state-owned banks to ease monitoring. This marks a significant shift from the current regulation, which allows exporters to deposit the funds in any local bank.
The change will introduce yet another revision to Government Regulation (PP) No. 36/2023, which was amended in March through PP No. 8/2025. The regulation aims to boost the country’s foreign reserves by requiring natural resource exporters to lock up their receipts in the country for at least a year. The only exception applies to oil and gas exporters, who need to retain only 30 percent of their proceeds for at least three months.
Aside from determining where the proceeds must be saved, the upcoming regulation will also cap the conversion of export earnings into rupiah at 50 percent, a limit not specified in the current rules. The effort is necessary to keep more foreign currency onshore, said Febrio Kacaribu, the Finance Ministry’s director general of economic and fiscal strategy.
Purbaya, however, noted that the conversion cap would apply only to “several tens of thousands of dollars,” with details still being finalized.
Officials say the changes are meant to close gaps in existing policy. While the current rules do not restrict conversion into rupiah, exporters commonly “exchange dollar proceeds into rupiah, move the funds to small banks, convert them back into dollars and then transfer them offshore,” Purbaya explained.
The goal of the new regulation, he added, “is to ensure that export earnings are truly effective so that the dollars onshore actually increase.”
When the retention period was extended from three months to one year in March, the government estimated that the policy would shore up US$80 billion in foreign reserves this year. However, President Prabowo Subianto has since noted that the impact has fallen short of expectations, with capital outflows have persisted and Bank Indonesia’s reserves have declined.
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As a sweetener amid the restrictions, the government plans to issue foreign currency-denominated bonds as an additional placement instrument for export proceeds, Kontan reported on Monday.
Purbaya confirmed the plan, saying the bonds would “provide a market for these funds,” adding that the state asset fund Danantara could be involved in issuing them.
The new rule will also expand the permitted use of foreign currency for procurement and working-capital needs, according to Kontan ’s report.
Shinta Kamdani, chairwoman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), welcomed the broader allowance for working-capital use, calling it a step toward improving the ease of doing business.
“We’ve long argued that once funds are already onshore, even if converted into rupiah, they should not be restricted. They are already in Indonesia,” she told reporters on Monday.
Many exporters rely on dollar-based financing, she added, making policy flexibility essential. She also noted that domestic interest rates and placement costs “must stay competitive with offshore markets.”
“We understand the government’s objective, but it needs to find a balance without making it harder for investors. […] If funds are forced to stay onshore longer, it would make Indonesia less competitive compared with placing those funds overseas,” she emphasized.
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Wijayanto Samirin, senior economist at Paramadina University, said restricting placements to state-owned banks “extends a worrying trend of financial centralization,” following earlier liquidity injections and government strategic programs that also favored state lenders.
He pointed to Rp 200 trillion and another Rp 76 trillion in liquidity injections that went solely to state-owned lenders. Strategic government programs, including the 3-million-homes initiative and the Red and White cooperative program, have likewise been run exclusively through those banks.
“This is not healthy. It risks undermining the development of an efficient and competitive financial market,” he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
David Sumual, chief economist of private lender BCA, said foreign-exchange deposits at private banks “are slightly larger” than those at state lenders, meaning the forced shift could create a foreign-currency liquidity squeeze that might spill over into the broader banking system.
Private banks “have invested heavily” in forex infrastructure, products and specialist teams, he added, warning that forcing a wholesale shift of export earnings to state banks by Jan. 1 could upend operations and compel private lenders to cut capacity, including manpower.
“Investors may read the policy as anti-market,” David said to the Post on Tuesday, “and worry it signals foreign-exchange controls, particularly for foreign investors who hold substantial stakes in local private banks.”
“Negative perceptions could trigger capital outflows and, in the end, weigh on the rupiah.”
Some exporters have used short-term swaps to move funds offshore “under various permissible underlying transactions,” practices the government now aims to curb, he said, but stressed that oversight “must not come at the expense of the sector’s competitiveness.”
“The policy needs further study. Market perception can shift very quickly, and changes in liquidity conditions can have immediate effects,” he said.