The Government Ignores The Ban On Coal Exports Disrupting The Revenue Sector, Sri Mulyani's Subordinates: We Are Comfortable With This Risk

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The government through the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) admits that the policy of a temporary ban on coal exports has the potential to disrupt the state revenue sector. The reason is, the soaring price of this black gold commodity throughout 2021 has contributed significantly to government funding. "Even if there is (interference in state revenues) it will only be temporary," said Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) of the Ministry of Finance Febrio Kacaribu at a press conference on the realization of the 2021 State Budget in Jakarta, Monday, January 3. According to Febrio, this step was taken to protect Indonesia's larger interests. "The policy taken by the government is intended to ensure that there is no shock to our electricity supply and it seems we can do that very carefully," he said. Just so you know, more than half of domestic electricity production is generated through Steam Power Plants (PLTU) which work through the coal burning process. So far, 75 percent of the total local coal production is intended to fulfill the foreign market share, aka exported. While the remaining 25 percent is used for productive activities in the country. "Because this is temporary, the impact on revenue is also expected to be temporary. So we are quite comfortable with the risks that lie ahead," said Febrio.

To note, throughout 2021 there will be a surge in global demand for a number of important commodities due to the economic election process. One of the prima donna is coal. In fact, this commodity received a price appreciation that increased up to 100 percent. Indonesia as one of the exporting countries gets its own blessing. This indication can be seen from the realization of Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) which amounted to Rp.452 trillion at the close of the 2021 financial year. This figure rose 31.5 percent from the ceiling set out in the 2021 State Budget Act of Rp.298.2 trillion.