Transactions on Batam in rupiah soon

Transactions on Batam in rupiah soon

JAKARTA (JP): Business transactions on Batam Island in Riau must use rupiah, not foreign currencies, Chairman of the Batam Industrial Development Authority (BIDA) B.J. Habibie said yesterday.

"I have ordered the managing chairman of BIDA to summon managers of hotels and shopping centers, who used to deal in foreign currencies, to stop such practices," Antara quoted Habibie as saying at a meeting with executives of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association and banks in Batam yesterday.

Foreign tourists, particularly those from Singapore, commonly use U.S. dollars and Singapore dollars for transactions in Batam.

Habibie said that local businesspeople have to work together with the government to cope with the transaction problem.

Habibie, who is also State Minister of Research and Technology, was accompanied by Armed Forces Chief General Feisal Tanjung and business tycoon Eka Tjipta Widjaja at yesterday's meeting.

The minister said that he will prosecute traders who refuse to accept rupiah in daily transactions.

Habibie told the meeting that business transactions on the bonded island increased by 67 percent to US$1.8 billion in the January-October period over the same period of last year. (kod)