Prabowo: 34-year under-invoicing practices cost the state Rp15,400 trillion

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - President Prabowo Subianto said the alleged under-invoicing practices carried out over 34 years from 1991 to 2024 have caused the state to lose wealth amounting to Rp15,400 trillion. Under-invoicing is a fraudulent practice by exporters or importers who report incorrect data to the government. Prabowo revealed these figures while delivering a speech at the 19th Plenary Session of the House of Representatives (DPR) concerning the Macro Economy Framework (KEM) and the Fiscal Policy Fundamentals (PPKF) of the 2027 Budget (RAPBN). ‘Under-invoicing is effectively fraud. What they sell by the entrepreneurs is not reported as it actually is,’ Prabowo said at the Nusantara Building of the DPR/MPRRI, Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday (20 May 2026). They then sell a domestic commodity to a company abroad at a price far below its actual value. The manipulation, he said, can be done in Indonesia but not in other countries, so it is monitored by the United Nations (UN). ‘We ship 10,000 tonnes of coal, we only report 5,000 tonnes. It can be done in Indonesia. It cannot be done there; there it is recorded,’ Prabowo explained. According to him, the practice occurred in palm oil exports and in almost all commodities. ‘That is fraud on paper. There is also smuggling. There is also smuggling through ’ghost’ ports.’ As a consequence, Indonesia loses wealth or experiences state losses amounting to 900 billion US dollars, equivalent to Rp15,400 trillion. ‘900 billion dollars of ours are gone. Imagine if we had this 900 billion dollars, which country is Indonesia then, ladies and gentlemen?’ The General Chairman of the Gerindra Party said he asked for the Customs Directorate General to be improved. He also recalled that Customs was once closed during the New Order era due to rampant corruption in that agency. ‘I still remember in the New Order era how bad our customs were; we closed customs. We outsourced to the private sector and state revenues rose. Isn’t that sad?’ Prabowo said.