Indonesia cuts tariffs

Indonesia cuts tariffs

JAKARTA (JP): As of Jan. 1 Indonesia has reduced import tariffs on some 3,557 items from other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to a range of between 2.5 percent and 30 percent from five percent and 45 percent.

The Ministry of Finance announced late last week that the tariff reduction plan is in line with the mutual tariff reduction agreements among the ASEAN member countries.

Agus Haryanto, a spokesman for the ministry, said that the Indonesian government reduced import tariffs on 1,941 items in January of last year.

ASEAN's six members -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- agreed in January 1992 to form the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), which calls for the reduction of import tariffs to a maximum of five percent by the year 2003 in the region under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme.

The tariff reduction will be carried out under two programs -- to a range of zero to five percent within seven years on items included in the "fast track" category, and to 20 percent within five to eight years on those falling under the "normal track" category.

Excluded from the CEPT scheme are agricultural goods and 14 items which a member country wants protected.(hen)