Purbaya Refuses to Implement New Tax, Awaits Q2 Economy at 6 Percent

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa predicts that Indonesia’s economic growth in Q2-2026 will not yet breach the 6 percent level, despite the national economy recording 5.61 percent year-on-year growth in Q1-2026.

According to Purbaya, the government will not implement new tax policies if economic growth has not stabilised above 6 percent for two consecutive quarters.

“Economic growth of 5.61 percent is not yet 6 percent and not stable at 6 percent. Let’s say if it’s above 6 percent for two consecutive quarters, we will consider other taxes,” Purbaya said during a media briefing at the Ministry of Finance on Monday (11/5/2026).

Purbaya stated that the government will continue to encourage economic growth in Q2 towards that level, although it is not yet certain that the 6 percent target can be achieved in the near term.

“We are pushing Q2 in that direction, but I think it won’t reach 6 percent yet, it will approach it,” he said.

According to him, the implementation of that policy is also awaiting the stability of national economic growth.

Purbaya explained that the policy emerged after the government received numerous complaints from offline traders who felt they were losing competitiveness against cheap imported products, especially from China, sold through online platforms.

“When I visited the markets, they said to tax the online ones like us so we can compete more competitively. That’s a reasonable complaint,” he said.

Therefore, the government has chosen to hold off on implementing the new tax until the economic conditions are deemed strong enough.

“If it’s stable at 6 percent approaching that, then we will proceed,” said Purbaya.

Previously, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded Indonesia’s economic growth in Q1 2026 at 5.61 percent year-on-year.

That figure is higher than the same period last year at 4.87 percent.