Govt' revenue from coal royalties will unlikely meet the target this year

The government's revenue from coal royalties will unlikely meet the target this year due to the drop in coal prices and the lower than expected coal production, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Tuesday.

Bambang Hartoyo, a senior official of the ministry of energy and mineral resources, said in Jakarta on Thursday that it would difficult to meet the target to produce 150 million tons of coal this year due to unfavorable weather condition.

"From Jan to Sept, the realized coal production reached only 120 million tons. I think it will be difficult to produce the other 30 million tons in the remaining three months," he said.

According to him, with lower than expected coal production and the decline in coal prices, it will be also difficult for the government to meet its target to raise Rp 2.85 trillion in royalties from coal production.

"If the coal production is five percent short of the target, the government's revenue from royalties will decline by Rp 150 billion," he said. The government's coal royalty is 13.5 percent of the total production of the country's coal mining companies. (*)