The surge in Customs Revenue Needs to be Tested by Audit

Illustration of the Customs. (Photo: Special)

JAKARTA - The Founding Secretary of Indonesia Audit Watch (IAW) Iskandar Sitorus assessed that there is public information regarding changes in revenue performance in the Customs environment which is quite striking is an important signal that should not be ignored.

"I have received information that the revenue of the Customs Service was minus about 8 percent last year. Then this year it reversed to a surplus of about 5 percent. If this information is true, then this is not just a number. This is a structural alarm," he said in a written statement, Sunday, April 5.

Because, this spike cannot be read simply, considering that customs revenue is not identical to Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP), so it is necessary to be cautious in drawing conclusions. "It does not mean that the information is wrong. Quite the contrary, it must be positioned as an internal signal that needs to be audited," continued Iskandar.

Based on official data from the Ministry of Finance, the national PNBP in 2024 was recorded at around Rp522.4 trillion and was still contracting 4 percent annually.

Meanwhile, the revenue of the Customs and Excise in 2025 is in the range of IDR 300.3 trillion or relatively stagnant compared to the previous year. In fact, at the beginning of 2026, the performance of customs and excise still shows pressure.

Until February 2026, new realisations reached IDR 44.9 trillion with a growth of minus 14.7 percent on an annual basis.

According to Iskandar, if there is a shift from minus 8 percent to plus 5 percent, there are three main possibilities.

First, there is an old leak that has started to close.

"If the leak is closed, the country does not need to work much harder to see improved revenue," he explained.

Second, administrative and internal supervision improvements such as tightening the inspection of goods, improving risk management, and service discipline.

"Third, external factors such as changes in import volumes, global commodity prices, to the utilization of free trade agreements," said Iskandar.