Faisal Basri: Indonesia's Smoking Rate Is Number 1 In The World, Policies Against The Aggressiveness Of Cigarette Manufacturers Still Barren

JAKARTA - Senior Economist Faisal Basri highlighted the high number of smokers in the country. He said, this figure continues to rise from year to year.

In fact, in 2020, Indonesia was in the highest position out of 128 countries in the world. He said the situation was worrisome. Because smoking is the second leading cause of death after high blood pressure.

"I want to start from the fact that we should have had a smoking emergency. Because we are already number one with the highest smoking rate in the world, there are 128 countries, the lowest in the world is Ethiopia. So Indonesia is the highest in 2020 with the highest rate of 76.2, Ethiopia 8 , 9 and the smoking rate in Indonesia continues to increase from time to time, "he said in a virtual discussion, Monday, May 31.

Faisal said Indonesia previously occupied the position of the second highest country after Jordan. However, now it has caught up and is number one out of 128 countries.

"Previously, if I'm not mistaken, we were number 2 after Jordan, but now we have followed up with Jordan. So Indonesia's smoking rate is the most sustainable. So it consistently increases. This means that all efforts for the policy are barren to fight the aggressiveness of cigarette factories and the cigarette industry," he said.

Faisal reminded that death from smoking occupies the second position in the world, after high blood pressure. Then diabetes, pollution and obesity. According to him, if the government wants to encourage Indonesian people to have high productivity, then at least these 5 main diseases will be a priority to be treated.

"It's very sad if we invest in human resources (HR), but if the human resources die quickly, it will be in vain. That was a perspective, if we are not controlled and then he causes death. So that investment in human resources becomes in vain," he explained.

In addition, said Faisal, the third fact is that excise revenues have never been affected by any crisis. Even though state revenues have fallen, the excise tax continues to rise. Even in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic era, the income from tobacco excise is still rising.

"We see 164.9 to 170. And this year it is targeted to increase again. So in the midst of declining state revenues, tax revenues have also decreased, while excise taxes have increased. So indirectly tobacco excise is the mainstay of state revenue. makes the government nervous. Because it has not found a source of income that can replace it," he said.

For your information, the realization of tobacco excise tax revenues in 2020 reached 103.21 percent of the target of Presidential Regulation number 72 in 2020. When compared to 2019, this figure rose 3.26 percent.

"Tobacco excise tax revenues accounted for 10.4 percent of state revenue. The highest in history? If you add PPh and VAT cigarettes, the contribution is even greater. Tobacco excise revenues account for 96.55 percent of total excise revenues," said Faisal.