"The government is currently focusing to ensure the availability and stabilization of energy and food prices in the country," Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency of the Finance Ministry, Febrio Kacaribu, stated in Jakarta, Friday.
The risks and dynamics of the global economy experienced steep escalation due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and acceleration of the normalization of the monetary policy in developed countries, especially the United States.
These two factors resulted in a high spike in global commodity prices, especially of energy and food commodities.
This condition ultimately put pressure on inflation in several countries in the world, including Indonesia, due to which the government is focused on ensuring the availability and stabilization of energy and food prices in the country.
The government also aims to provide various forms of social protection to protect the poor and vulnerable groups of people from the impact of rising prices.
To strengthen the provision of social assistance for the community, the government also encourages state revenue through the imposition of a carbon tax that will be implemented on July 1, 2022.
Kacaribu affirmed that the Ministry of Finance was currently drafting technical rules to implement the carbon tax, such as rates and bases for imposition, road maps and methods for calculating, collecting, paying or depositing, and reporting.
Meanwhile, other regulations, such as the emission limit for the steam power plant sub-sector and the procedures for implementing the economic value of carbon in power plants will be determined by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
However, the main objective behind imposing a carbon tax is not only to increase revenue but also as an instrument of climate control in achieving sustainable economic growth, he stated.
The imposition of a carbon tax is expected to change the behavior of economic players to switch to low-carbon green economic activities.
"This preparation is important for us to reach the goal in implementing carbon tax with optimal impact," Kacaribu concluded.
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Translator: Astrid Faidlatul H, Resinta S
Editor: Sri Haryati
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