Jakarta. Indonesia plans to recruit 380 high school graduates to fill field-level positions at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said on Tuesday, as part of efforts to strengthen operational capacity within the agency.

The recruitment initiative was first announced several months ago but has yet to be implemented.

“Customs needs 380 high school graduates, but the plan has not been executed for months. I have asked for it to be implemented immediately because we need personnel for highly technical fieldwork. The vacancies may be reopened next month,” Purbaya said in Jakarta.

Since taking office last year, Purbaya has prioritized reforms at the customs and excise directorate following the arrest of several officials on corruption allegations and concerns over its limited contribution to state revenue.

He had previously warned of dissolving the directorate and outsourcing its functions to private entities such as Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS), a Switzerland-based inspection and verification firm, if performance failed to improve. However, he said last month that the plan had been scrapped.

Finance Ministry data show customs and excise revenue fell 14.7% year-on-year in the first two months of 2026 to Rp 44.9 trillion ($2.7 billion), representing just 13.4% of the full-year target of Rp 336 trillion ($19.9 billion).

In contrast, tax revenue rose sharply to Rp 245.1 trillion ($14.5 billion) as of Feb. 28, up 30.4% from Rp 188 trillion in the same period last year.

Purbaya is also pursuing broader human resource strengthening across both the tax and customs directorates, including internal staff rotations.

On March 27, he announced plans to reassign 213 employees from the Directorate General of Budget to the Directorate General of Taxes to address staffing shortages without increasing the state payroll.

He said the tax office requires additional personnel as revenue targets rise, while the budget office currently has excess staff, making internal reallocation a more efficient option than external recruitment.

The government has raised its tax revenue target by 22% this year to Rp 2,357.7 trillion ($138.9 billion). Indonesia’s tax workforce currently exceeds 45,000 employees across central and regional offices.

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