Government plans to apply export duty on coal

The government plans to re-apply export duty on coal next year to compensate for declining revenue from the oil palm sector, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Monday.

The paper quoted Susiwijono Moegiarso, a director at the Directorate General of Excise and Custom, as saying that applying an export duty of 7.5 percent can potentially provide revenue of Rp 22 trillion for the government, assuming coal export revenue can be maintained at the 2012 or 2013 level of US$24.3 billion and $22.7 billion, respectively.

Minister of Finance Bambang Brodjonegoro declined to provide much comment, saying that there has been no discussion about the export duty plan.

Chairman of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association (ICMA) Bob Kamandanu protested the plan, warning that it could send many mining companies to go under given the current drop in coal price. (*)