Customs Authority Under Scrutiny: How Much Revenue Was Collected in February 2023?

Customs duties have come under scrutiny after several netizens complained about import fees on goods from abroad.

One viral complaint was from an Indonesian citizen named Fatimah Zahratunnisa. Fatimah won a talent search competition in Japan, *I Can Sing in Japanese*, in September 2015, beating 11 participants from various countries.

However, the trophy she received incurred import duties upon being sent to Indonesia. The amount was a substantial Rp4 million.

"The competition prize didn't include any money, only the trophy. Winning a competition and having to pay extra," wrote the account @zahratunnisaf on Saturday (18/3/2023).

This confession immediately sparked reactions from netizens. The Ministry of Finance's spokesperson, Yustinus Prastowo, responded to one netizen's complaint.

"We have tried to contact her to get detailed information. This happened 8 years ago. If we knew the employee involved, they would certainly be disciplined. We will learn a valuable lesson from this incident," wrote Prastowo, @prastow, on Monday (20/3/2023).

Aside from this case, how did customs revenue perform in February 2023?

In total, customs and excise revenue reached Rp53.27 trillion, contributing 17.57% to the February 2023 state budget.

The components are: import duty revenue of Rp7.88 trillion. This figure grew by 15.6% year-on-year (yoy). This import duty increase was driven by the rising US dollar exchange rate and increased vehicle import duty revenue.

Meanwhile, export duty revenue amounted to Rp2.04 trillion. This figure plummeted by -69%, down from Rp6.57 trillion (yoy).

In her press conference, Sri Mulyani, Minister of Finance, stated that the sharp decline was due to the moderated price of crude palm oil (CPO) and the volume of mineral and mining commodity exports.

Excise duty showed a slightly declining trend, almost stagnant compared to the previous achievement, at Rp42.27 trillion, down 0.01% (yoy).

(See also: [List of Wealth of Customs Heads Across Indonesia, Who is at the Top?])