Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, has announced that the government is prepared to provide incentives to attract investments from Apple Inc., akin to those in India and Thailand.
“I said, if you (Apple Inc.) can get incentives like in India and Thailand, we (Indonesia) can also provide the same,” Luhut said as quoted by Antara on Thursday, April 18, 2024.
Luhut cited that one incentive the Indonesian government could offer to Apple is a duty exemption for Apple’s components.
“They have products that we cannot produce yet, and we need them to produce something. So why should we tax them?” he said.
According to him, Indonesia should emulate what Thailand and India have done with adjustments to domestic regulations. “But if those regulations hinder, we indeed need to change them,” he added.
Luhut’s statement comes in light of the meeting between President Joko Widodo and Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on April 17, 2024.
Luhut said that the focus of discussions between the government and Apple was on exploring strategic plans, including Apple’s expansion opportunities and Indonesia’s integration into the global supply chain.
“The meeting was very productive because he [Tim Cook] just realized that Indonesia is a very potential country with a population of 282 million, stable economic growth, and our macroeconomics are also good,” he said.
According to Luhut, Tim Cook mentioned Indonesia as a target for Apple’s investment.
“The President instructed me to follow up on all of this. We will soon work on this, and I hope in the near future, we will have technical meetings with Apple’s team,” he said.
So far, Apple has invested more than IDR 1 trillion in building the Apple Developer Academy, a digital talent training program to develop Apple applications. The program is already established in four locations − BSD Tangerang, Surabaya, Batam, and the newest one in Bali.
