Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Coordinating Minister for Economy Darmin Nasution said income tax cut will be included in the 7th policy package to be announced on Friday.

"The facility is to help prevent companies from being forced to lay off workers," Darmin said here.

He said companies have accepted the concept of incentive that in long term could boost consumption and strengthen industrial resilience.

In 2008, the government adopted a similar police of incentive scheme but companies were reluctant to give data about the number of their workers needed to estimate a cut in their income tax.

Now data of the number of workers could no longer be kept a secret as anyone could access the data through BPJS , he said.

Darmin has asked head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Franky Sibarani to communicate with business leaders about the implementation of the incentive scheme after the 7th policy bpackage was announced.

Meanwhile Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the cut in tax on salaries, allowances, wages and other fees would indirectly contribute to increasing the people purchasing power.

Earlier Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the new policy package would facilitate investment in Indonesia.

"It will be focused more on facilitating investment procedure and provide incentives," Kalla said.

The policy package is also expected to lower the cost of investment in labor-intensive industry, he added.

He said the impact of the series of economic policy packages issued since September 2015 would be good for the economy.

"Some will have short-term impact, and some long-term impact. The impact would not come immediately," he said.

The government has so far issued a series of six economic policy packages aimed at protecting the country from the impact of the global crisis.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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