Trade Ministries along with Indonesia’s Industry have decided to impose a 20% luxury goods sales tax on mobile phones. The latest move will improve growth in the country’s infant industry.
MS Hidayat, the industry minister said that the new tax will have some kind of effect on most mobile phones which are sold across the nation and will not be limited to those which are priced above 5 million rupiah, as it was earlier indicated. Hidayat said, “This will serve as an incentive, giving the opportunity for our industry in its initial phase to grow”.
The minister went on to say that there are four domestic cell phone makers, but he did not want to identify them. The producer of consumer electronics under the Polytron brand, PT Hartono Istana Teknologi is developing mobile phones under its new brand, which includes smartphones. The market of Indonesia has emerged as one of the biggest, as well as most promising cell phone markets in the world.
Starting from 2012, the number of subscriber identification module cards sold across the nation went above 120 percent of the total population in Indonesia. Trade Minister Mohammad Lutfi said that the 20% tax will encourage the development of the domestic cell phone industry.
Photo Credits: Voanews
