Finance minister links rise in gold smuggling to export levy

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa linked the increase in gold smuggling abroad to export duties that give traffickers an incentive to avoid the levy. He made the remarks during the disclosure of a smuggling case involving 23,793 kilograms of gold worth Rp63 miliar at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang, on Thursday. Purbaya also suspected the supply for the smuggling network came from PETI, or illegal gold mining, with destinations including Hong Kong, China, and Dubai. Kementerian Keuangan and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise will tighten monitoring at Indonesia’s exit points and pursue the syndicate’s main players. Bareskrim Polri said it is ready to trace crimes at both the upstream and downstream levels. On the fiscal side, gold export duty revenue through the first half of 2026 was only about Rp900 juta, equal to 0.03 percent of the Rp3 triliun target.