On Friday 03 January 2025, Indonesia Investments released the December 2024 edition of its monthly report. The report presents a selection of subjects (related to the economy and politics of Indonesia) that were relevant in December 2024.
While Indonesia is still in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis, albeit – most likely – set to exit the economic recession in the second quarter of 2021 due to the so-called low base effect, and while Indonesian consumers continue to display reluctance to spend (reflected by 16 consecutive months of contracting retail trade on an annual basis), the Indonesian government expressed its intention to raise Indonesia’s Value-Added Tax (VAT, or in Indonesian: Pajak Pertambahan Nilai, abbreviated as PPN).
There was some confusion about the government’s plan to raise the value-added tax (VAT) rate from 11 percent to 12 percent. Based on Law Number 7 of Year 2021 on Harmonization of Tax Regulations (specifically in Article 7), a one percentage point VAT hike from 10 to 11 percent materialized on 1 April 2022. That law also ordered for another one percentage point hike (to 12 percent) on 1 January 2025, the latest.