DENPASAR ~

Bank Indonesia asks businesses in rupiah in any transactions carried out in the country.

“According to the rules of law, any citizen who transact in Indonesia must use rupiah,” said Chief Representative of Bank Indonesia (BI) Bali, Dewi Setyowati in the socialization of the obligation to use rupiah in Denpasar.

Socialization is given to businesses practitioner, associations of payment system providers, as well as local governments’ public relation. According to her, from a survey conducted by central bank, nearly 90 percent of businesses on the island still use price labels in foreign currency which mainly US dollar.

“We did a survey, about 90 percent of the price label of goods and services are using US dollar,” she added.

In Article on Currency, Rupiah must be used in each payment transaction, settlement of other obligations that must be met with money and other financial transactions.

In paragraph 2 of the article, the obligation does not applied to certain transactions within the framework of the implementation of the state budget, acceptance of grant from or to abroad, international trade transactions, bank deposits in foreign currencies or international financing transactions. Violations of the obligation to use rupiah can be penalized up to one year imprisonment and a maximum fine of Rp200 million.