Next Year, The Ministry Of Finance Prepares 17 Million New Cigarette Excise Ribbons

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) has prepared 17 million new cigarette excise stamps for the needs of January 2024. This is in line with the plan to increase tobacco excise rates (CHT) next year.

"This amount is in accordance with orders from the cigarette industry which have submitted it to customs service offices in many regions," said Director General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance Askolani quoting Antara.

He explained that the cigarette excise band will be printed at the Money Printing of the Republic of Indonesia (Perri), which is targeted to be completed before 2024. That way on January 1, 2024, the cigarette industry that ordered the new excise stamp will be able to use it.

With the new excise band, the Ministry of Finance will continue to consistently strengthen supervision so that there is no sale of illegal cigarettes with fake excise stamps.

As of October 2023, Customs and Excise had cracked down on 641 million cigarettes with fake excise stamps and did not match its designation, including the prosecution of 84 million cigarettes in East Java and 36 million cigarettes in Central Java.

Askolani said a university study showed that enforcement of excise stamps helped increase cigarette production by around 5.3 percent and contributed to state revenue by 0.3 percent.

"So we really need legal cigarette trafficking activities, lest the legal ones be defeated by the illegal ones, those who use the excise tape do not match, so we continue to consistently take action against this," he said.