VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita during the year-end press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday (Dec 29, 2021). ANTARA/Sella Panduarsa Gareta - 

The manufacturing industry has become the main driving sector for Indonesia to recover from economic recession, Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita stated.

"The important role can be seen from the manufacturing industry's performance in several indicators, including investment, exports, imports, tax contributions, contributions to GDP, growth rates, purchasing managers index (PMI), and employment," he noted during his year-end press conference here on Wednesday.

The minister highlighted that the realization of investment in the manufacturing sector during the January-September 2021 period was recorded at Rp236.79 trillion, up 17.3 percent, as compared to investment during the corresponding period in 2020 of Rp201.87 trillion.

The base metal industry clocked the largest investment value followed by the food and beverage sector.

The realization of investment in 2021 is expected to exceed investment in 2020 recorded at Rp270 trillion.

Exports of the manufacturing industry continued to increase despite the COVID-19 pandemic. During the January-November 2021, it recorded exports valued at US$160 billion, or 76.51 percent of the total exports.

"The figure has exceeded the manufacturing exports achievement in 2020 of US$131 billion and is even higher than the exports in 2019 when the COVID-19 pandemic had not yet spread," he stated.

In comparison with the January-November 2020 period, exports during the same period of 2021 had increased by 35.36 percent, maintaining the trade surplus recorded since May 2020.

"The achievements of the manufacturing industry sector, in terms of investment and exports, have supported the industry's contribution to state revenues as well as the national GDP that continues to increase," Kartasasmita noted.

Taxes from the manufacturing sector during the year contributed 29 percent on an average to the national tax revenue, while excise revenue from the industry contributed 95 percent of the total excise revenue.

"As for the contribution to GDP, the manufacturing industry in the third quarter of 2021 has contributed 17.33 percent (to the GDP), the highest figure among other economic sectors," he pointed out//ANT