Non-tax revenue still far below target

The government will have to work harder in the second semester of this year as the non-tax revenue from the coal and mineral sector is still far below this year?s target, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Wednesday.

According to data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the non-tax revenue from the coal and mineral sector as per June 15 of this year was only Rp 14.2 trillion, which is still far behind the full-year target of Rp 52.2 trillion.

Ministry spokesman Dadan Kusdiana said that despite the slow achievement, the government has yet to revise the revenue target.

Meeting the target, however, will be quite difficult given the current drop in the price of coal, which accounts for about 80 percent of the non-tax revenue from the coal and mineral sector. Export of mineral ores has been banned since early 2014, while much of the planned smelters have yet to be completed, thus resulting in the low contribution of the mineral sector.

The government has been mulling to increase the tariff of coal royalty in a bid to obtain greater revenue from coal, but has been strongly protested by miners. (*)