Gov't: CPO Fund is Ready  

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Suahazil Nazara, the Finance Ministry's head of fiscal policy office, denies rumors that the Crude Palm Oil (CPO) Fund is not ready to be applied. Nazara ensured that there are two valid Finance Minister Regulations (PMK) regulating the CPO Fund that exist.

"The fact that it is effective officially means that there are PMKs [regulations] on it," he told Tempo last weekend.

Suahazil, member of the Finance Miistry's Public Service Agency CPO Fund, said the CPO Fund is collected by the Fund Management Agency in cooperation with the Directorate General of Customs and Excise. He made sure that before the policy took effect the Directorate General of Customs and Excise has socialized and disseminated it to relevant parties thoroughly.

Suahazil's statement is a response to the complaints of CPO employers and exporters who said that the CPO Fund, which took effect on July 16, is a half-done policy that hinders exports.

Executive Director of the Indonesian Vegetable Oil Industry Association, Sahat Sinaga, for example, complained that the implementation of the levy scheme is not evenly distributed. He said that this was due to the lack of two PMKSs: No.133/2015 on the BLU Services Tariff for Palm Oil Fund Manager Agencies, and No.136/2015 on the Amendment of Export Duties.

Sahat, who is also Vice Chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Board, said that the two PMKs and two Trade Ministry Regulations the legal umbrella for the CPO Fund.  

"The government said that the two PMKs were signed on July 14, but we have not seen it, we cannot even find it online," he said.

The absence of these rules creates business uncertainties for exporters. Togar Sitanggang, Secretary General of the Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (APROBI), said that employers are treated differently in ports because of unclear regulations.

The most apparent cases happened in Sumatra and Kalimantan, he said, where the two companies exporting palm kernel cakes (PKC) are forced to pay duties based on PMK No.128/2013, when the company actually "exports after the implementation of the CPO Fund."

Meanwhile, PKC exporters in Kalimantan have to pay an export duty of US$1 per ton, in accordance with the new PMK.

These two cases, Togar said, happened after the implementation of the CPO Fund policy. "This means that dissemination from the central government to regional levels as well as on-duty officers was not evenly distributed."

Togar and Sahat as well as other entrepreneurs said that the policy application was rushed. "The system is not ready, and we became the victims."

ANDI RUSLI