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Jokowi summons Sri Mulyani amid customs, state budget concerns
The state budget next year has been in the spotlight after Prabowo, who is currently the defense minister, announced that he would push forward with his free lunch program for Indonesian schoolchildren, which is estimated to cost Rp 1 trillion per day.
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Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati stands before the press for photoshoot prior to press conference in her office building in Jakarta on Mar. 25, 2024. (JP/Deni Ghifari)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo summoned Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Wednesday amid public uproar over customs services, and to discuss deliberations of the state budget for the next administration under president-elect Prabowo Subianto.
The Customs and Excise Office, which is under the jurisdiction of the ministry, has been the subject of condemnation on social media for imposing large amounts of taxes without clear guidelines on imported goods carried by airline passengers or sent from abroad.
It was reported recently that dozens of braille keyboards from a South Korean company were stranded for nearly two years at the airport just because the intended recipients of the goods, a school for visually impaired students in South Jakarta, were unable to pay more than Rp 100 million (US$6,278) in duty and tax to the customs office.
In another case, a man was billed Rp 31 million in taxes for shoes worth Rp 10 million bought through e-commerce.
Sri Mulyani said she explained to the President about “the viral cases” and how her ministry had continued to improve the customs services.
The finance minister, who just finished a trip to Europe, also said she reported about the current global economic conditions to the President based on her meetings with several international organizations, including the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Asian Development Bank, and how the conditions would affect the state budget next year.
