VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo re-emphasized the importance of reducing import figures in a bid to maintain positive economic growth. When opening a Limited Cabinet Meeting on the Acceleration of the Implementation of the Industry and Trade Program at the State Palace in Jakarta, Wednesday (11/12), he highlighted the high number of imports of raw materials and auxiliary raw materials reaching more than 70 percent. Data from the Central Statistics Agency shows that imports of raw materials and auxiliary raw materials reached 74.06 percent of the total imports for the period January to October 2019. Meanwhile, imports of goods and imports of consumer goods reached 16.65 percent and 9.29 percent respectively. Of this figure, the type of raw material with the highest number of imports is steel, reaching US$ 8.6 billion dollars. Meanwhile, the organic or petrochemical chemical industry reached US$ 4.9 billion dollars. Thus, President Joko Widodo hopes that his aides will open up investment opportunities, especially for the substitute goods industry.

“ Moving on from the data, I ask for investment opportunities, please underline this, the import substitution industry must be wide open. That means that steel, chemical or petrochemical industries must really be opened. Becausethis is an import substitution. This should be noted by BKPM (Investment Coordinating Board). So, the notes are Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment," said Joko Widodo.

Furthermore, President Joko Widodo also asked his aides to take concrete steps to encourage the growth of the processing industry, petrochemicals, including the acceleration of the mandatory biodiesel B30. He emphasized that the growth of the manufacturing industry not only produces imported substitutes, but also opens up huge employment for the community. In addition, President Joko Widodo also called for an increase in the campaign for the use of domestic industrial products, including the optimization of the Domestic Component Level in government projects so that import figures can be suppressed. (VOI/Ndy)