Should Indonesia Suffer from More Reduction of the Subsidy to the Petroleum Sector?

We numerically examine the impact of the actually implemented reduction policy of the subsidy to the petroleum sector by using a static CGE model with the latest input-output table of Indonesia of year 2008. Our simulation results indicate that the Indonesian economy suffered from the actually implemented policy with a welfare loss of 28,417.78 billion rupiah even with the conversion policy. Furthermore, the proposed future reduction policy by the Ministry of Finance would unavoidably result in a welfare loss even when the government continues the current conversion policy. However, our simulation results also suggest that a new future conversion policy with a slightly additional subsidy to the LPG sector would eventuate in completely offsetting the negative effect of the proposed plan on the future welfare with an expanding government expenditure.