Indonesia: Finance Ministry No Longer Relies on Oil and Gas Sector

• Mar 30, 2017

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Head of Fiscal Policy in the Ministry of Finance, Suahasil Nazzara, said that the state revenue decline from the oil and gas sector sparked the urge to push tax revenues. He argues that it isn’t the time anymore to depend on revenues generated by the oil and gas sector.

“That era of depending on the oil and gas sector as a main state revenue source has ended,” Suahasil said on Wednesday, March 29, 2017.

Suahasil said that the government still needs to establish new infrastructures, since the state is eying on its tax revenues. Oil and gas lifting, says Suahasil, will continue to decline. “Speaking of macro assumptions, if the oil lifting drops then revenue also drops.”

Suahasil explained that in 2014 the nation’s revenue from the oil and gas sector reached Rp 320 trillion. The amount of revenue in 2015 dropped even further to Rp 136 trillion. The number yet again endured a reduction in revenue to Rp 80 trillion in 2016.

Despite this Shuahasil says that his ministry currently thinks that the sustainability of the investments in the upstream sector has become a crucial thing. “Time to push the industry in order to improve,” Says Suahasil.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2017/03/30/056860819/Finance-Ministry-No-Longer-Relies-on-Oil-and-Gas-Sector