Following the release of its fourth economic policy package last week, the Indonesian government is now preparing a fifth one covering deregulation of permits at the regional level.
Chief Economic Minister Darmin Nasution did not explain in detail the focus of the fifth economic policy package, saying it will be made public after President Joko Widodo returns from the U.S. at the end of this month.
“We actually still have a lot of stocks which are to be deregulated but let us discuss it later,” he said, as quoted in a report by Antara News.
The government issued on October 15 the fourth economic policy package that promotes a simpler wage system, and the expansion in the number of small exporters that can avail themselves of smallholder credit and credit extension to prevent lay-offs.
On October 7, the government had issued the third economic policy package that covers the reduction in the price of fuel oils, electricity and gas; expansion in the amount of micro loans to enterprises; and simplification of land permit issuance to attract investments.
Meanwhile the first and second packages, declared in September 2015, aims to increase deregulation efforts to improve the investment climate in the country and facilitate development projects.
The economic policy packages were issued by the government in a series to overcome the country’s growth slowdown following global economic uncertainty while attempting to make Indonesia more competitive.
Exports in 18% slide for September
As this developed, Indonesian export value in September fell to US$12.5 billion, reflecting a drop of 17.98% from the same period a year ago when exports were pegged at $15.27 billion, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS).
“If compared with September 2014, it decreased by 17.98 per cent. However, when compared with August 2015 it fell only 1.55 per cent from US$12.72 billion,” BPS chief Suryamin said.
Suryamin said non-oil exports in September, which amounted to $11.1 billion, also slipped 12.45% compared to a year ago, when it stood at $12.65 billion.
Compared to August 2015’s non-oil export value of $11.9 billion, it fell 1.06% in September.
“Indeed, the surplus in exports in the non-oil sector increased from month to month. There is potential to continue developing non-oil exports,” Suryamin said, as reported by Antara News.
The biggest decline in non-oil exports from August 2015 to September 2015 occurred in machinery or mechanical appliances, down 18.18%, while the largest uptick was in jewelry, up 29.49%.
Non-oil exports to the U.S. in September 2015 registered the biggest amount with $1.3 billion, followed by Japan and China, both with $1.1 billion, with the contribution of the three countries to total exports representing a 30.93% share.
“Exports to 27 countries in the European Union were pegged at U.S.$1.2 billion,” said Suryamin.
The cumulative value of Indonesian exports for the January to September 2015 period reached $115.1 billion, down 13.29% from $132.7 billion in the same period in 2014. Non-oil exports reached $100.7 billion, a slump of 7.87% from $109.3 billion a year ago.
Photo: Gunawan Kartapranata
