Sri Mulyani Says Simbara Boosts Coal, Mineral Non-Tax Revenue

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati credited the Mineral and Coal Information System (Simbara) for a significant increase in non-tax state revenue from the minerals and coal (minerba) sector.

While acknowledging a decline in state revenue due to falling commodity prices in 2023, Sri highlighted that the mineral and coal revenue reached a staggering Rp172.9 trillion. 

“That is 18 percent above the APBN (State Budget) target,” she said at a press conference after the launch of Simbara for nickel and tin in the Finance Ministry office on July 22, 2024.

Simbara is an integrated data system for all mineral commodities. Its primary objective is to create a single source of coal and mineral data and facilitate comprehensive monitoring, aiming to streamline business processes and to strengthen state revenue.

The Finance Ministry proposed the system in 2020, with its initial launch in 2022 for coal. The recent expansion incorporates nickel and tin commodities, enabling broader integration of business governance across the entire value chain, from upstream exploration to downstream processing.

Isa Rachmatarwata, Director General of Budget at the Finance Ministry, elaborated on Simbara's role in consolidating previously scattered data. “Up until now, Simbara has successfully harmonized 10 independent systems which were previously spread across 6 institutional ministries,” he explained.

This year, Simbara has been further enhanced by incorporating the national industrial information system maintained by the Industry Ministry, which encompasses downstream nickel processing at smelters. The ministry plans to continue developing and improving Simbara, with a focus on including gold, copper, and bauxite commodities in the future.

Isa outlined several key benefits achieved through Simbara, namely a one-stop service through a single platform, access to reliable mineral and coal data, integrated supervision, effective Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) and downstreaming, fraud prevention, combating illegal mining, as well as increased state revenue.

“Simbara has provided direct and significant achievements for state revenues,” Isa concluded.

Simbara’s implementation for the coal sector alone is claimed to have prevented illegal mining activities amounting to Rp3.47 trillion. Additionally, data analysis and risk profiling of business actors have yielded an estimated Rp2.53 trillion in additional state revenue. Furthermore, the automatic blocking system within Simbara has facilitated the settlement of receivables totaling Rp1.1 trillion.

ILONA ESTHERINA

Editor’s Choice: Indonesian Govt Launches SIMBARA for Nickel, Tin Tracking System

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News