Indonesian Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati. (Image: CNBC Indonesia)

Electric vehicles are ready to go: Sri Mulyani

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Politics & Economic
Regulation
Jul 23, 2019
1916
JAKARTA - Is it time for electric vehicles to run over Indonesia’s road? For the Indonesian Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, it is about time. It was revealed that Sri Mulyani had initialed the Presidential Regulation’s (Perpres) draft regarding electric vehicles.

The draft had been resubmitted onto the desk of the Ministry of State Secretariat, according to the statement from the Head of Fiscal Policy Agency under the Ministry of Finance, Suahasil Nazara.

Nazara said that the discussion went smooth since the Ministry of Finance had already agreed to the content of the draft regarding electric vehicles since the beginning. However, it was that the Ministry of Finance required more time to scrutiny the fiscal incentives and tax incentives which could benefit the electric vehicles sector.

The draft listed the incentives and “good things” for the development of electric vehicles in Indonesia, namely the exemption or partial reduction of Income Tax (PPh), generally known as tax holiday, and facilities of Taxable Income (PKP) reduction or tax allowance. On top of that, the Indonesian government also planned to cut the import duty for electric vehicles to zero, or import duty incentive.

Last weekend, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, stated that the draft was previously transferred to Merdeka Palace to be initialed by the President of Indonesia himself, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

However, it has to wait because there were found certain points that needed to be revised and perfected, regarding import quota for the automotive industry to be able to assembly the electric vehicles as fast as 2 years from its raw material.

On Thursday (18/7), the Minister of Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Susi Pudjiastuti, quipped about how tax made electric vehicles’ price astronomical in Indonesia through a tweet on her official Twitter account. The quip came after the Minister tried out Renault’s electric car on French National Day. The tweet reaped 85.354 hearts and 578 comments.

The same quip also came out from Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources, Ignasius Jonan, who questioned the exemption of luxury goods tax (PPnBM) on electric vehicles since previously Sri Mulyani and Airlangga Hartanto planned to cut PPnBM to zero during a meeting with 11th Commission of House of Representative (DPR) in March.

In his tweet, the Minister was baffled by Renault’s initial price at Rp200 million. Imposed by PPnBM, the price rose up to Rp400 million! Jonan then questioned the Indonesian government’s commitment to ecological health with electric vehicles.

In a cabinet meeting held on January 2019, Jokowi said that Indonesia has the chance and natural resources to make electric vehicles happen. Ministry of Industry, Airlangga Hartarto, stated that the government would cut the import duty for the development of electric vehicles to zero, adding that Indonesia expected 20% of its cars in 2025 should be electrical.

Should the regulation pass, certain international car manufacturers, like Volkswagen and BMW, are waiting to invest in Indonesia.

For Indonesia itself, electric vehicles are not only proven to be eco-friendly but also it will lift the fuel import burden over its shoulders, a Rp798 trillion salvation.

Source: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/ekonomi/20190722210311-532-414525/sri-mulyani-klaim-sudah-paraf-perpres-mobil-listrik

Politics , Automotive , Regulation , Electric-Car , Indonesia , Eco-vehicle