The President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, generally known as Jokowi, opened the B30 program. (Image via Liputan6.com)

Jokowi opens the B30 program with Ahok

On Monday, the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, generally known as “Jokowi”, officially opened the mandatory B30 program at SPBU Pertamina M. T. Haryono, Tebet, South Jakarta. The president was accompanied by the General Commissioner of Pertamina, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, generally known by his Hakka name “Ahok”, and the President Director of Pertamina, Nicke Widyawati.

B30 is a program of 30 percent crude palm oil (CPO)-blended biodiesel, an extension of the previous B20 program to fight the deficits in trade and current account balances.

Previously, the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, estimated that B30 could absorb the production of CPO as much as 10 million kiloliters (kl); Indonesia could save up to US$8 billion.

Moreover, Jokowi stated that the acceleration of the biodiesel program is done in search of a new renewable energy source to get rid of fossil fuel.

During the opening, Jokowi said that coming up next will be B40 and B50. Indonesia, as the world’s biggest palm oil producer, aims to suppress diesel fuel import by utilizing more CPO. Due to importing diesel fuel, Indonesia’s deficit in trade and current account balances worsened.

For January – November 2019, the deficit in trade balance reached US$3.11 billion, while the deficit in current account balance reached US$7.7 billion in the Q3 of 2019.

But diesel is not the only one to blame. Oil and gas imports are also to blame. According to the date from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), from January – November 2019, Indonesia had imported US$19.75 billion worth of oil and gas. The figure was actually better compared to 2018’s figure at US$27.84 billion.

Jokowi aims to implement B50 by the end of 2020 and B100 by the end of 2021.

Source: https://bit.ly/2sbYN0J