Vessel income tax erased

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto has approved the National Maritime Council's proposal to exempt gains from the sale of ships from income tax if the money is used to buy new ships.

"The president has also agreed that ships' crews will be freed from paying income tax," the council's deputy chairman, Soesilo Soedarman, said after meeting Soeharto yesterday.

Soesilo said the Indonesian shipping industry needed incentives to encourage local shipowners to expand their fleets with a view to increasing their share of shipping market.

He said local and foreign ships transport 272 million metric tons in Indonesia every year.

He said Indonesian-owned ships carried only 2.18 percent of this, or 5.9 million metric tons. (bnt)