Jakarta – Finance Minister Sri Mulyani has announced that the rupiah redenomination bill would not be submitted to the House of Representatives for deliberation this year.
"I think this [redenomination] is good, but the government has not submitted the bill," said Sri Mulyani in Jakarta on Thursday as reported by kompas.com.
She made the announcement after President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said that rupiah redenomination would not be implemented in the near future as the government needed to study the impact, consider its urgency and decide when to implement the policy.
Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Matowardojo revived the idea of rupiah redenomination, which was first floated in 2013. He stressed that this year was the best time to start the process, considering the condition of the economy.
Agus cited a number of economic parameters, including a 3.02 percent inflation rate and 5.02 economic growth rate last year, as well as a 5.01 percent economic growth rate in the first quarter of 2017. Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution supported Agus' suggestion.
Sri Mulyani argued that the government and the House were currently focused on the 2018 state budget bill. She added that many bills listed in the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) also needed immediate attention.
"Let's have public discourse on redenomination, but the government has postponed the plan. I will focus on the 2018 state budget deliberation," she added.
Agus said deliberating the issue would not take much time because the bill consisted of only 17 articles. (bbn)