JakartaGlobe-Apr 28
Starting 00:00 a.m. today, Indonesia has stopped all palm oil and its derivatives exports to drive cooking oil prices to below $1 at local markets. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced the final decision on the export ban late on Wednesday, less than a day after his senior minister said the export ban would only affect the refined, bleached, deodorized, or RBD, palm olein, which is the raw material for cooking oil. “I want to emphasize that for the government, the people’s basic needs hold the most important consideration,” Jokowi said in a broadcasted statement. “I know the country needs taxes. The country needs foreign exchange. The country needs a trade balance surplus. But meeting the people’s needs is a more important priority,” he said. Indonesians have been struggling to buy cooking oil in the past few months, with some having to stand in line for hours to get their hand on just one or two liters of the oil. Local producers prefer to sell their products abroad, taking advantage of higher global commodity prices instead. Jokowi said the government intended to keep the export ban until the bulk cooking oil price dropped below Rp 14,000 a liter. As the largest palm oil-producing country globally, it was ironic that Indonesians even had difficulty getting cooking oil, Jokowi said. Jokowi’s decision to take a drastic measure on palm oil came days after political pollsters showed that public satisfaction with his administration was declining. According to a political pollster Charta Politica, public satisfaction with the Jokowi administration’s performance has been downward this year. Read more at: https://jakartaglobe.id/business/jokowi-decides-to-ban-all-cpo-exportslocal-needs-are-more-important
