Finance Minister Purbaya Views Global Investor Tax Incentives as Non-Lossmaking
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa believes that granting tax incentives to global investors in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for the financial sector will not cause the state to incur losses. He revealed that the international financial centre in Bali will be built to resemble the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), covering an area of approximately 100 hectares.
According to Purbaya, the regulations in Bali’s financial SEZ will be specifically tailored, with global investors’ assets potentially exempt from taxes. “Later, economist friends will say it’s a loss if that’s the case. No, there was nothing there before,” he said during a press conference of the Financial System Stability Committee in Jakarta on Thursday, 7 May 2026.
The State Treasurer opined that funds entering the SEZ could be used for investments in Danantara projects or other promising projects outside the SEZ. Alternatively, investors could purchase government bonds.
Purbaya stated that the presence of the financial centre could serve as a financing source for both private and government development. “So we will have a new financing source that might be cheaper than now and make our financing more sustainable,” he said.
Meanwhile, lecturer from the Economics Department at Andalas University, Syafruddin Karimi, believes that implementing tax incentives in the financial centre carries fiscal risks. This is because the state could potentially lose revenue from large-asset investor groups.
Syafruddin said that without tight design, tax exemptions could turn into cheap facilities for global investors without equivalent contributions to the national economy. “Therefore, the government needs to set clear conditions: funds must be recorded in the domestic financial system, meet beneficial ownership transparency standards, be free from money laundering practices, and impact the purchase of national financial instruments or productive investments,” he stated when contacted on Wednesday, 6 May 2026.