Director General Of Customs And Excise Confesses, E-Commerce Imports Explode But State Revenue Is Little

Director General of Customs and Excise Ministry of Finance Askolani (Photo: Instagram a_askolani)

JAKARTA - The Director General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance, Askolani, revealed that there was a significant surge in imports of goods in the two years that the pandemic lasted. According to him, the increase in imports was dominated by types of public consumption goods.

"Imports have increased sharply, especially for e-commerce shipments," he said while attending a working meeting with Commission XI of the DPR at the Senayan Parliament Complex, Jakarta.

Askolani added that the impact of online shopping activities made the quantity of goods entering the country increase.

"This has both positive and negative impacts. First maybe it shows intensity (trading). Second, it must be realized that this is still an import trend. However, it must be in line with the TKDN (Domestic Content Level) policy that has been pushed by the President," he said.

In Askolani's view, the current conditions bring challenges for SMEs in the country to be able to increase competitiveness, especially in terms of price and quality.

"We cannot stop this policy (e-commerce imports) so we really need comprehensive cross-ministerial cooperation to be able to overcome the challenges," he said.

Askolani also said that although the volume of imports by online companies was very high, it did not have a big impact on the state revenue sector.

"E-commerce is indeed the most numerous, but in terms of revenue it is not so dominant," he said.

For information, the Directorate General of Customs and Excise until the middle of this year has facilitated services to 40,866 importers, 29,055 exporters, 3,291 customs service management entrepreneurs (PPJK), 152 bonded logistics centers (PLB), and so on.

Citing the latest report on the realization of the state budget until April 2022, it is known that customs and excise revenues were recorded at Rp108.4 trillion. This figure grew by 37.7 percent compared to the same period in 2021 of Rp.78.7 trillion.

As for the ceiling stipulated in the 2022 State Budget Law, customs and excise are expected to be able to obtain state revenues of Rp. 245 trillion by the end of next year.