Govt expects Rp 740b from reforestation funds

Govt expects Rp 740b from reforestation funds

JAKARTA (JP): The government had targeted to collect Rp 740
billion (US$87.5 million) in reforestation funds in fiscal
1998/1999, a minister said yesterday.

Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said the
government targeted to collect Rp 740 billion in reforestation
funds.

"The target of Rp 740 billion is much smaller than our annual
revenue from reforestation funds in previous years. We had been
collecting over Rp 800 billion in reforestation funds per year,"
he said after a media conference.

Reforestation funds collected in fiscal 1996/1997 totaled Rp
880.7 billion, up from Rp 809.6 billion in 1995/1996.

Djamaludin said last week the reforestation funds would be
accounted for in the state budget in fiscal 1998/1999 as part of
state revenue from nontax sectors.

At present, the reforestation funds are managed by the
Ministry of Forestry, but are not accounted for in the state
budget.

According to Presidential Decree No. 29/1990, reforestation
funds collected from levies on forest concessionaires must be
used to develop forests and rehabilitate land.

Djamaludin said he was optimistic the collected funds would
surpass the government's target.

He said if timber companies had a working plan similar to last
year's, there would be an increase of 20 percent in reforestation
funds this year, compared to the figure last year.

He said the increase was due to a new tariff to collect
reforestation funds, which had been charged in rupiah instead of
U.S. dollars since Jan. 1.

"Before the currency crisis, we charged timber companies $16
per cubic meter of logs. At that time, the U.S. dollar rate was
about Rp 2,400," he said.

"Now the tariff is set at Rp 48,000 per cubic meter. The new
tariff is based on the calculation of $16 times the U.S dollar
rate of Rp 3,000," he said.

But he said the increase in the amount of collected funds was
also determined by wood demand in overseas markets.

Djamaludin said his ministry had proposed to the Ministry of
Finance to revise the new tariff due to a further plunge of the
rupiah's value against the dollar.

The rupiah plunged to a record low of 10,000 to the dollar in
Singapore and 9,700 in Jakarta yesterday. The currency has lost
nearly 75 percent of its value against the dollar due to
speculative attacks since early July last year.

"It will be hard for us to increase the tariff to collect
reforestation funds, because demand for wood is currently
sluggish," he said.

He said South Korea, one of Indonesia's main wood importers,
had stopped buying Indonesian wood due to the current monetary
crisis in the country.

Japan, the world's biggest importer of Indonesian wood, had
also reduced their purchases due to the same reason, he said.

The monetary crisis, triggered by the de facto devaluation of
the Thai baht in early July last year, has hit several Asian
countries.

Djamaludin said the government had allocated Rp 420.4 billion
in the proposed state budget to finance state-related activities
overseen by his ministry. The amount increased 6 percent from Rp
394 billion allocated in the current state budget.

He said although the budget was considered tight, there would
be no rescheduling of the ministry's projects. (gis)