E-commerce responsible for worsening trade deficit
E-COMMERCE is like a double-edged sword for the Indonesian economy. On the one hand, it has contributed significantly to the country’s state revenue, on the other hand, it has contributed to the country’s trade deficit.
The Ministry of Finance’s Customs and Excise Directorate General recorded that the contribution of import duties from e-commerce products to state revenue was recorded at 1.19 trillion rupiah ($4.85 million) last year, about 99.2 billion rupiah per month on average.
However, the total import of e-commerce products reached $17.17 billion last year or 9.11 per cent higher than the previous year’s figure. Meanwhile, the country’s trade deficit was recorded at $8.57 last year.
“The trend of import duties from e-commerce products is continuously increasing. It could be seen from t he revenue collected in early 2019,” said Customs and Excise Directorate General spokesperson Deni Surjantoro in Ja karta on Tuesday as quoted by kontan.co.id.
He added that import duties from e-commerce products had reached 127 billion rupiah early this year.
Research institution Statista estimated that the value of e-commerce exports would reach $22.6 billion in 2022, three times higher than the figure in 2015.
Commenting on the significant increase of e-commerce product imports, Center for Indonesia Taxation Analysis (CITA) executive director Yustinus Prastowo said e-commerce players might want to take advantage of the current absence of taxes in e-commerce transactions because Finance Ministerial Regulation No 210/PMK.010/2018 on taxation for e-commerce transactions was likely to take effect on April 1.
Under the regulation, ecommerce players will be required to report all transactions through e-commerce platforms and the taxes that should be paid to the government.