Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government is providing certain industries with government-borne import duties this year to improve their competitiveness, a Finance Ministry official said.

The measure is also designed to meet the public`s demand for goods and services, protect consumers` interests, create more job opportunities and increase state revenues, Head of the Communication and Information Services at the Finance Ministry Yudi Pramadi said on Wednesday.

Yudi added that businessmen can benefit from the import duties from February 2 to December 31, 2012.

The import duties are to be applied to the importation of goods and materials which have not been produced domestically, goods and materials which have been produced domestically but have not met expected specifications, or goods which have been produced locally but still do not meet domestic needs, he said.

He noted that the import duties are not to be applied to those importers of goods and materials subjected to general import duty of zero percent, goods and materials subjected to general import duty of zero percent under an international accord or agreement, goods and materials subjected to anti-dumping duty/temporary anti-dumping duty, including safeguard duty/temporary safeguard duty and countervailing duty.

Nor are the import duties to be provided for the importation of goods and materials by companies at bonded zones, or the importation of goods and materials by companies exempted from or receiving refunds on the payment of duty on the importation of goods and materials to be processed, assembled or incorporated with other goods for exports, he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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