JAKARTA: Bank Indonesia’s current account deficit forecast for 2022 remains on track to be about 0.9% of GDP, despite the government’s recently announced export ban on cooking oil and its raw material, Governor Perry Warjiyo told Reuters on Monday.

Concerns about the impact of the ban on Indonesia’s exports and current account had hit the rupiah earlier in the day, sending the currency down 0.7%.

“We do not have some negative impact, because the current account deficit and trade balance surplus (are) coming from very high commodity prices,” Warjiyo said in an interview with Reuters, noting export volumes had not been increasing much or even in some cases declining.

Indonesia export ban will not include crude palm oil

Indonesia’s exports were worth $26.5 billion in March, the largest on record, boosted by high commodity prices, despite falling palm oil shipments.

Details about the palm oil export ban have not been officially released, but industry sources told Reuters it would include halting refined palm olein shipments but not crude palm oil, meaning the impact could be smaller than previously thought.