Sri Mulyani's Subordinates Affirm That The Formation Of The Coal BLU Will Not Burden The State Budget

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA – The government through the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) confirmed that the plan to form a Public Service Agency (BLU) for the coal sector is still in the maturation stage. This was stated by the Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency, Febrio Kacaribu, in a webinar today.

According to him, the establishment of a coal BLU will be independent of the state finances (APBN), so that the institution can support its own activities and even provide benefits to the economic sector.

“Will this have an impact on state finances? Absolutely not. In fact, we are designing this mechanism with the principle from entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, and for PLN as well," he said, Wednesday, January 12.

Meanwhile, the government's role in the formation of BLU is to try to present regulations as legal provisions as well as efforts to maintain a conducive business climate in the country.

"We are here as the government to help create good coordination," he stressed.

Based on the information compiled by the editors, it is known that the formation of BLU is the government's response to overcome the scarcity of coal supply for the domestic market because most of it is intended for the export market.

The plan is that the coal BLU will be under the coordination of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM). In a work scheme, this Public Service Agency will collect fees from coal companies.

The collected funds will then be distributed to PLN as a consequence of the price difference that must be borne by the state stun company when buying coal on the market.

Just so you know, so far, PLN has been mandated to buy coal in a fixed price range, which is US$70 per metric ton.

Now, the amount of levies that are charged to business actors to support PLN is the difference between the market price and the mandatory PLN which is 70 US dollars per metric ton.

The levy itself will be collected before the coal delivery process or before it is shipped. This policy applies to all coal mining companies in Indonesia.