The Chairman of Bali's Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN), Anak Agung Ngurah Alit Wiraputra, welcomed the government's recent announcement to reduce Income Tax for SMEs to just 0.5 percent from the previous 1 percent on a maximum turnover of IDR 4.8 billion per year.

According to Nusa Bali he is optimistic this will go a long way to empower more SMEs and MSMEs, which in turn will have a positive impact on the local economy.

Alit Wiraputra explained there were approximately 180,000 registered SMEs and MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) in Bali, many of which have either suspended their business activities or who are using antiquated book keeping models, which do not take advantage of current information technology particularly when it comes to banking and tax compliance.

The Income Tax reduction is outlined in Government Regulation No. 23/2018, which is a revision of the previous Government Regulation No. 46/2013, where the rate was set at 1 percent. President Jokowi took the opportunity of socializing this tax reduction at the opening of the 40th Bali Arts Parade (PKB) in Denpasar on Saturday.

In a related development, the Indonesian Ambassador to Russia, M. Wahid Supriyadi, has invited SMEs in Denpasar to participate in the 3rd Indonesia Festival to be held in Moscow from August 3 - 5 to showcase and sell their products.

Supriyadi suggested Balinese handicrafts were in high demand in Russia, and the embassy was "continuously working to increase the export of SME products to Russia."

According to Nusa Bali, Supriyadi went on to explain the Indonesia Festival 2018 would be slightly different to previous years because in addition to holding small business exhibitions there would also be activities dedicated to promoting tourism.

The synergy between Bali's tourism and real estate industries is something all property businesses on the island are aware of. "It's not rocket science," Andrzej Barski from Harcourts Seven Stones told WILLIAMS MEDIA. "When tourist arrivals increase so does interest in real estate."

Russian tourist arrivals to Bali in continue to improve. Supriyadi said there were over 91,000 Russian tourists in 2017 and the hope was this number would increase to around 110,000 in 2018. Nusa Bali reported less than 2 percent of all Russian visitors in 2017 visited Denpasar, which was why Supriyadi was keen to encourage Denpasar based SMEs to participate in the festival so more Russian visitors would see the area's tourism potential.

Sources: Nusa Bali, Detik Finance, Tempo, The Jakarta Post

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