Maintain Economic Growth, Minister Of Home Affairs Asks Ministry Of Energy And Mineral Resources To Provide Relaxation On Exports Of Mining Results

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Tito Karnavian, has asked the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Bahlil Lahadalia, to provide relaxation to the copper and gold mining company in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), PT Amman Mineral Nusa Tenggara (AMNT), to be able to export concentrate. This is intended to encourage NTB's economic growth, which in the first quarter of 2025 contracted by 1.47 percent.

This was conveyed by the Minister of Home Affairs at the Regional Inflation Control Coordination Meeting, Monday, July 7. During the meeting, the Minister of Home Affairs paid his attention to the two provinces that experienced a contraction in the first quarter of 2025, namely Central Papua Province which experienced a contraction of 25.53 percent and NTB Province by 1.47 percent. When compared to the same period last year, NTB Province experienced a growth of 4.75 percent.

"For NTB minus 1.47 percent. I have come there to discuss directly with the Governor, Mr. Lalu Muhamad Iqbal. Found the problem, the problem is that the mine there is AMMAN which is in West Sumbawa Regency, there is a policy to build a smelter so that its production (consentrate) cannot be exported. The smelter is still 6 months away, as a result there is no export and this affects economic growth which has a relatively decreased activity (economics) and it has a big effect, the job is also large there," said Tito Karnavian.

Tito added that he had communicated with the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Bahlil Lahadalia.

"Is there a possibility of relaxation while waiting for the smelter to finish, namely that concentrates can be exported or sold to other places (other smelters)?" said Tito.

A similar request was also conveyed by the West Sumbawa Regency DPRD to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources which was submitted through an aspiration letter to Commission XII of the DPR RI, and was submitted during a Working Meeting with the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, at the DPR RI Building Complex, Wednesday, July 2.

In a letter signed by the Chairman of the West Sumbawa DPRD, Kaharuddin Umar, the West Sumbawa DPRD asked the Central Government through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to grant export relaxation permits to AMMAN in 2025, with several considerations including West Sumbawa regional revenue 80 percent depending on the mining sector.

On the other hand, with this absence of exports, the original regional revenue (PAD) of West Sumbawa in 2026 will experience contraction due to the absence of Revenue Sharing Funds and weak economic turnover in local entrepreneurs and regional MSMEs. In addition, 40 percent of local workers will potentially be laid off if mining operations are hampered.

On a separate occasion, the Governor of West Nusa Tenggara, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal emphasized that his party would ask the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to provide relaxation of concentrat exports for a certain number and time as an effort to boost economic growth.

The Central Government Needs To Provide Relevant Solutions Mining Observer Ferdy Hasiman said that the need to maintain the economy of an area is a shared responsibility, especially the Central Government, because after all, a regional economic slowdown will have an impact on national growth because it is aggregate.

There needs to be a solution offered by the government. Public pressure to maintain NTB's economic stability must be prioritized rather than maintaining rigid downstream regulations that are less relevant to current conditions. This requires the wisdom of the Central Government to balance downstream ideals with the reality of the field," added Ferdy.

For information, based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of NTB Province, the economic contraction in this region is mostly due to the mining and excavation sector which decreased by almost 30.14 percent when concentrat exports were stopped. In fact, the sector accounts for more than 20 percent of the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GDP) NTB.