The Covid-19 pandemic has been going on for 10 months since the first case was found in Indonesia in early March 2020. However, the number of people infected with this virus is increasing, with case records reaching 765,350 incidents and active cases reaching 110,679 as of January 4, 2021. The impact caused by the pandemic is felt in various lines, especially for health and the economy. From an economic standpoint, Indonesia is facing the threat of an economic recession due to economic growth in the third quarter of 2020 minus 3.49 percent year on year (YoY), based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
The government minimizes the bad effects of Covid-19 through the National Economic Recovery (PEN) program. The government has adopted a series of policies. One of them is through import duty and import tax relief. To reduce the burden on industries affected by the pandemic, the Directorate General (Dirjen) of Customs and Excise of the Ministry of Finance provides various tax exemption incentives. "The total realization of import duty and import tax exemption facilities in 2020 will reach Rp. 2.88 trillion rupiah," said Director General of Customs and Excise Heru Pambudi in the 2020 Directorate General of Customs and Excise Kaleidoscope. and Ease of Import for Small and Medium Industry Export Destinations (KITE IKM). Meanwhile, 33 industrial sectors receive Government Borne Import Duty (BMDTP) facilities.
In the international trade sector, the government has also provided relaxation for submitting certificates of origin (SKA) to 10 ASEAN countries. The number of Export SKAs this year amounted to 269,046 and Import SKAs of 252,340 with processes carried out online. Stimulation measures for the industry to support the national economy were also provided for the cigarette industry. Among other things, through relaxation of excise payments and cigarette production with a value of Rp. 38.1 trillion. The ethyl alcohol excise was also relaxed with a value of IDR 4.2 trillion. For the development of the Creative Economy Zone (KEK), the government provides fiscal leeway on imports of capital goods in 2020 with a value of IDR 771.88 billion. This effort is predicted to stimulate job opportunities for 15,268 workers to support industrial activities and export-import performance. This fiscal convenience also applies to tobacco product industrial estates where it will be easier to carry out business licenses, business activities, and delay payment of excise taxes.
The Director General of Customs and Excise also noted that the foreign exchange proceeds from exports in 2020 reached US $ 151.7 billion. According to the BPS report, Indonesia's trade balance in November 2020 experienced a surplus of US $ 2.6 billion with export value reaching US $ 15.28 billion or an increase of 6.36 percent on a monthly basis (mtm) and imports of US $ 12.66 billion or an increase. 17.4 percent (mtm). Although decreasing on an annual basis, the monthly import rate is experiencing growth. On the health side, in order to accelerate the response to Covid-19, the government will immediately provide vaccines for more than 200 million Indonesians. On December 6, 2020, 1.2 million doses of Sinovac Biotech vaccine arrived in Indonesia, followed by 1.8 million doses in the second batch. (31/12/2020) For this reason, the Director General of Customs and Excise relaxes customs and excise facilities as well as taxation for imported vaccines. Apart from that, the exemption from import duties also includes special facilities for medical devices for handling Covid-19 amounting to IDR 2.176 trillion, facilities for the central government, local governments or BLU of IDR 561 billion, and facilities for non-profit institutions of IDR 144 billion. With the vaccine, it is hoped that the post-Covid-19 national economic recovery can be realized in 2021.
