VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The national manufacturing industry showed an increasingly aggressive performance in expanding its business and employment. This achievement is supported by the government by creating a conducive investment climate and providing business facilities for businesspeople in Indonesia. This was stated by Minister of Industry, Airlangga Hartarto in his written statement on Friday (2/3). Minister Airlangga said the government had launched several packages of economic policy, deregulation policy, and debottlenecking accompanied with simplifying requirements and business licensing. Based on a report by Purchasing Manager Index released by Nikkei and Markit, Purchasing Manager Index of Indonesia's manufacturing rose from 49.9 in January to 51.4 in February 2018. The Purchasing Manager Index above 50 was again achieved, since previously in December 2017 and January 2018, it was below of neutral point. While the Purchasing Manager Index above 50 indicated that manufacturing is expansive. Moreover, the achievement of Indonesia's Purchasing Managers Index in February 2018 also showed the highest position in operational condition since June 2016 or 20 months ago. Minister Airlangga Hartarto further said, the rise in the Purchasing Managers Index showed confidence in the industrial sector. Moreover, it's supported by the significant increase of doing business, from 106th rank in 2015 to the 72th rank in 2017. The Ministry of Industry recorded that polls of some purchasing managers at Indonesian manufacturing firms conducted by Nikkei. The results showed that the industry is experiencing the addition of new workers because usually related to an increase in domestic demand. With the increase of production, the company is able to raise the payroll for the first time in 17 months. The employment growth rate is the second highest level recorded during the survey. Referring to the data from the Ministry of Industry, during the period of 2015-2017, the number of medium industrial enterprises has increased significantly, reaching more than 4,000 business units until the second quarter of 2017, compared to 2014 about 1,200 business units. The increase is targeted to continue in the next two years, reaching more than 8,000 business units by the end of 2019.Meanwhile, the number of workers absorbed by industry in the 2015-2017 period has increased, from 15.390.000 (fifteen million three hundred and nine thousand) people in 2014 to 16,570,000 (sixteen million five hundred seventy thousand) people until the second quarter of 2017. It was targeted to continue to grow until the end of 2019 up to 17.1 million (seventeen million one hundred thousand) employees to be absorbed by the national industry.