JAKARTA: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced on Wednesday (May 20) natural resource export controls to boost tax revenues as the country battles economic headwinds fuelled by the Middle East war.
Future sales of all natural resources -- starting with crude palm oil, coal and ferrous alloys -- will go through state-owned enterprises appointed by the government, he told parliament.
"This means that the proceeds from every export sale will be passed on by the state-owned enterprises appointed by the government to the business operators managing those activities," Prabowo said.
The Jakarta Stock Exchange was down nearly 1.5 per cent shortly before noon on the news.
Prabowo said the regulation will optimise tax revenues for the state, as he presented an upbeat report about Indonesia's economic health.
"The issuance of this regulation is a strategic step to strengthen the governance of exports of our natural resource commodities," he said.
"The main objective of this policy is to strengthen supervision and monitoring and to eradicate underpayment practices, under-invoicing, transfer pricing practices, and capital flight of export earnings." - AFP
