A Calibrated Easing for Foreign-Linked Miners
Under Article 18A of Government Regulation No. 21/2026, qualifying mining exporters may now retain at least 30 percent of their natural-resource export proceeds for three months. Previously, 100 percent was locked for 12 months under the general rule. ANTARA News confirms that, since June, non-oil-and-gas mining exporters have been required to retain all export proceeds domestically for 12 months, while oil-and-gas exporters must hold at least 30 percent for three months.
The new facility is tightly ring-fenced. It applies only to mining exporters structured as limited liability companies, with at least one shareholder from a designated partner country holding at least 10 percent of shares. Based on export customs declarations from the Directorate General of Customs and Excise between March 2025 and July 2026, the government identified 537 tax identification numbers for mining exporters. After matching with legal-administration records, only 64 — around 12 percent — met the Article 18A eligibility criteria.
Indonesia has named five partner countries for this treatment: the United States, China, Hong Kong, Australia and Canada. Earlier analysis in the Jakarta Post and BriefAsia shows these countries already benefited from broader flexibility under natural-resources export-proceeds policy. The result is a two-tier regime between favoured partners and other trading nations. The latest easing consolidates an emerging pattern: incremental relief for foreign-linked miners tied to strategic relationships, while tight controls remain on the rest of the sector.
When Does the New Rule Take Effect?
The special natural-resource export-proceeds facility will apply to export declarations from 1 September 2026, according to government statements carried by ANTARA and domestic financial media. The measure remains optional. Exporters that do not wish to use it can opt out by notifying Bank Indonesia within five working days after the official list is published. Firms that stay silent will be deemed to have chosen the facility and will therefore operate under the lighter retention conditions.
The government’s stated goals are macro-focused. Secretary of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Susiwijono Moegiarso said the policy aims to strengthen macroeconomic stability and domestic financial markets, support investment and working capital for downstream development, and boost investment and exports. For investors, this aligns with ongoing efforts to stabilise the rupiah and deepen onshore foreign-exchange liquidity, while still channelling resource revenues into the domestic system.
What Does the Change Mean for Liquidity and Banks?
Under the general framework, qualifying natural-resource exporters must repatriate 100 percent of foreign-exchange export proceeds into Indonesia. For non-oil-and-gas miners, those proceeds generally sit for at least 12 months in special accounts at state-owned banks. This limits flexibility for debt service, capex and hedging. Analysis of PP 21/2026 underscores that Article 18A does not remove the repatriation obligation. Instead, it reduces the mandatory retention share to 30 percent and the minimum retention period to three months, while allowing funds to be placed with a broader set of foreign-exchange banks.
In a hypothetical US$100 million export deal, the minimum amount that must remain parked under special conditions can fall from US$100 million for one year to US$30 million for three months. The remaining proceeds can be deployed more flexibly. This should ease liquidity constraints for qualifying miners planning downstream smelters or processing plants. As one Jakarta-based analyst put it in a recent note, Indonesia is now testing whether modest relief on forex deposit rules can unlock export liquidity without undermining its push to anchor natural-resource earnings onshore.
Banking channels also broaden. A coordination meeting cited by Kumparan and CNBC Indonesia shows that the government has designated 15 foreign-exchange banks for the special accounts, comprising five state-owned lenders and 10 private or foreign banks. The state-owned list includes Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Negara Indonesia, Bank Tabungan Negara and Bank Syariah Indonesia. The non-state-owned group covers Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank, MUFG Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of China, ICBC Indonesia, China Construction Bank Indonesia, SMBC Indonesia and HSBC Indonesia.
A Broader Shift in Treasury and Monetary Tools
This broader bank roster matters for treasury operations. Qualifying miners can now place or convert proceeds through a mix of domestic and foreign banks authorised for foreign-exchange business. They are no longer confined to the association of state-owned banks. At the same time, Bank Indonesia is strengthening its own foreign-exchange monetary tools, expanding eligible currencies and instruments for term deposits and swaps. Together, these changes signal a more market-sensitive approach to managing inflows and exporter liquidity.
For investors and lenders, the adjustment points to a gradual normalisation of Indonesia’s aggressive DHE-SDA stance, at least for miners linked to strategic partners. However, the regime remains two-tier and selective. Further tweaks will likely track currency conditions, bilateral deals and downstream investment needs. This shift also sits within Indonesia’s broader push to attract foreign capital into its resource sector — a theme explored in coverage of EU investment targeting EVs and green energy in Indonesia. Over the next 12 months, the key signals to watch will be how many of the 64 eligible exporters actually use the facility, how it feeds through to project-level funding for smelters and processing plants, and whether policymakers extend similar relief beyond the current, narrow mining cohort.
Quick answers
Only mining exporters structured as limited liability companies with at least one shareholder from a designated partner country — the US, China, Hong Kong, Australia or Canada — holding at least 10 percent of shares. Of 537 mining exporters identified, only 64 (about 12 percent) met the criteria.
Under the general rule, 100 percent of export proceeds must be retained for 12 months. Article 18A reduces this to a minimum of 30 percent for three months, so on a US$100 million deal, the locked amount falls from US$100 million for one year to US$30 million for three months.
The facility applies to export declarations from 1 September 2026. Exporters that do not want to use it must notify Bank Indonesia within five working days of the official list being published; silence is treated as acceptance.
