JAKARTA. The government has granted a tax holiday facility for four companies, aiming at boosting investment in pioneer industries, an official said on Thursday.

“We have decided that four out of 11 companies [that filed proposals] will receive the tax holiday,” Industry Minister Saleh Husin said as quoted by kompas.com, referring to PT Unilever Oleochemical Indonesia, PT Petrokimia Butadine Indonesia, PT Energi Sejahtera Mas and PT Ogan Komering Ilir Pulp and Paper Mills.

The proposals of other companies, PT Indorama Polychem Indonesia, PT Caterpillar Indonesia Batam, PT Feni Halim, PT Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery and PT Synthetic Rubber Indonesia, were still being processed by a verification team, Saleh said.

He said the proposals of two other companies, PT Sulawesi Mining Investment and PT Sateri Viscose International, had yet to be processed.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the tax holiday facility was aimed at pushing investment in pioneer industries.

“We can’t rely on commodity exports for too long. We should push [the implementation of] downstream policy in the natural resources-based industry [as well as] in those which have big domestic markets such as the maritime, telecommunications and oil and gas [sectors],” Bambang said.

The Finance Ministry recently issued revised tax-holiday regulation 159/PMK.010/2015 on Aug. 14.

Article 2 of the regulation stated that institutional taxpayers which provide new investment in pioneer industries are eligible for an income tax reduction facility.

Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie