House to draft currency law to protect rupiah

House to draft currency law to protect rupiah

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives on Thursday announced plans to
draft a currency law to protect the rupiah from being speculated
by the market.

House deputy chairman Tosari Widjaya said the drafting of the
law was based on the country's amended 1945 Constitution, which
stipulated that the national currency should be regulated with a
special law.

"Currently, our currency affairs are only regulated by the
central bank law. Thus, we need to form a separate law to help
protect our currency from being knocked down by speculators, such
as during the financial crisis in late 1997."

Tosari said the House would form a special committee to work
with the government to draft the law. The committee would invite
experts and officials from the central bank to discuss the draft.

During the session, the House had also decided to amend Law
No. 25/1999 on fiscal balance between central and regional
governments.

Tosari said the draft contained several deficiencies
concerning the fiscal gap between the central and the regional
governments, and the distribution of wealth between poor and rich
regions.

The House also decided to postpone the approval of the
treasury bill into law because there were several articles still
being disputed by several parties.

However, Tosari declined to mention the disputed articles.

The bill was expected to be approved during the next plenary
session on Dec. 16, he said.