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Finance Ministry cancels plan for plastic products excise
The Finance Ministry has abandoned a plan to enforce an excise on plastic products starting next year but still wants to go ahead with a tax on packaged sweetened beverages.
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Stock illustration of sugary drinks (Shutterstock/monticello)
T
he Finance Ministry has abandoned a plan to enforce a tax on plastic products starting next year but still wants to implement an excise on packaged sweetened beverages.
The head of the ministry’s Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF), Febrio Kacaribu, said the agency would propose to the House of Representatives “in the near future” to cancel discussions on the plastics excise.
“Yes, that is what we will try to discuss later with [the House],” Febrio told reporters in Jakarta on Friday, as reported by Bloomberg Technoz, adding that the consumption of sugary drinks needed to be brought under control immediately.
An excise had to be applied to products meeting certain criteria, including those that may “negatively impact” the public as well as those requiring controlled and supervised consumption, “so […] we want to prioritize health [improvement] related to sugar consumption,” said Febrio.
“There have been several discussions and consultations. It seems that this is what we will be able to discuss later with [the House]. We will see the results later,” he said.
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) estimated in 2021 that Indonesia was among the top five countries with the highest number of diabetes patients in the world, with around 19.5 million adults in the country suffering from an illness that significantly increases risks of other ailments.
The number of diabetic patients in 2021 was up nearly twofold from 2019 and threefold from 2011, when Indonesia was estimated to have around 10.7 million and 7.3 million diabetics, respectively.
