Purbaya: Bonded Areas Must Return To Export Oriented, Not Domestic Market

Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadive (Photo: Doc. VOI)

The Directorate General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance plans to tighten policies related to the distribution of tied regional products to the domestic market.

The domestic sales quota, which is currently a maximum of 50 percent, will be reduced to 25 percent to restore the main function of the tied area as an export-oriented facility.

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadives emphasized that this policy is needed to maintain a balance of competition between industries located in bounded areas and local industries, especially in the midst of global economic uncertainty that is still high.

He explained that from the beginning the tied area was designed to support exports. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the government gave concessions so that companies in the region could increase sales to the domestic market in order to maintain production activities.

With the global economic conditions now gradually recovering, Purbaya assessed that it was appropriate to re-implement the rules according to their original goals.

"The design of the tied area should be export-oriented, right? When Covid-19 is over, we give exceptions because the global is destroyed. But when it's normal again, it should return to zero. We have just lowered it to 25 percent, that's enough," he told the media crew when met at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy Office, Wednesday, November 26.

According to him, a decrease in quota is needed so that competition between domestic industries and tied-up regional companies remains fair.

He added that companies in tied areas have various import facilities that can create inequality with local industries that do not have similar access.

"So we just returned it to the original design. And he said a lot of things were leaked from there. So we strengthen the goods, supervise the items that come out of the tied area. Now we put a more sophisticated IT system there," he said.

Previously, the Director General of Customs and Excise Djaka Budhi Utama, said that his party was currentlymonizing the revision of the Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK) Number 131/PMK.04/2018 concerning Bonded Areas with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights to support the implementation of the new policy.

The revised regulations are targeted to be issued at the end of November 2025. Djaka added that the Ministry of Industry's proposal regarding a maximum limit of 25 percent of sales to the domestic market has also been included in the PMK revision.