Jakarta, IO – Bank Indonesia (BI) acknowledges a number of obstacles in a bid to redenominate or simplify currency digits. BI Senior Deputy Governor Destry Damayanti said one of the main challenges is in controlling the price of goods on the market after the redenomination was carried out.
“We at BI are also really excited. We would also be better off if there was a redenomination, because we can simplify the currency unit. We are actually ready,” said Destry, per Katadata, Wednesday (15/6).
Redenomination is a simplification of the nominal currency or in other words, reducing the number of digits in the currency. For example, from Rp50,000 to Rp50. He said the process is actually easy as BI only needs to reprint new banknotes and make announcements about the changes.
However, the challenge lies in efforts to control the price of goods so that they do not change when redenomination is carried out. He said it was very possible that there are unscrupulous parties trying to make profit by manipulating consumer psychology.
For example, before redenomination, item A was worth Rp50,000, and after redenomination it should be Rp50. However, unscrupulous sellers can show the price as Rp75 which makes people think that it is still much cheaper than before redenomination.
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“This is what we have to control, and BI cannot do it alone. We need to involve all relevant officials because there must be oversight from the Trade Ministry as well and so on.”
Technically, Destry said that Indonesia is actually ready to redenominate the currency. According to him, Indonesia has met the requirements because the economy and politics are relatively stable.
However, very thorough preparations need to be made before it is launched. (un)