The government of Indonesia on October 15 announced the fourth installment of its economic policy package, aimed at enhancing employment, increasing the number of micro loan recipients, and facilitating export development by small businesses.
The new policy package follows the first and second phases of the policy package issued in September and the third installment announced on October 7, reported Antara News.
“We hope the latest economic policy package can easily boost the business world. This policy is expected to facilitate the growth in job opportunities and incoming investment,” Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said on Thursday.
He said the newly announced policy package will cover polices on the deregulation of the wage system, expansion in the number of micro loan recipients, and extension of credit to small-scale businesses so they can ramp up their exports.
Earlier, Chief Economic Minister Darmin Nasution stated that the fourth phase of the government’s economic policy packages would focus on efforts to overcome manpower issues.
“The fourth tranche will mostly deal with the employment problem, the formulation of minimum wages, and manpower licenses. It will be related to several licenses,” Nasution said on Tuesday.
The chief economic minister said there will be a streamlining of bureaucratic licensing procedures to offer convenience to workers.
The fourth phase of the policy packages will also include additional regulations to facilitate the extension of micro loans to small businesses.
Darmin said that the series of economic policy packages is part of administration efforts to maintain the country’s economic fundamentals amid global economic volatility.
“We are trying to boost economic activities through investment and government capital expenditure, hoping that the economy will move positively,” Darmin said at an event held to publicize the government’s economic policy package on Thursday.
On October 7, the government announced the third tranche of its economic policy package, which covers cuts in the prices of fuel oils, electricity tariff and gas; expansion in the amount of micro loans; and streamlined land business permit procedures for capital investment.
The first and second phases announced in September cover deregulation efforts to improve the investment climate and accelerate development projects.
Budget, GDP target slashed
At the same time, with the Budget Body of the Parliament, the government revised down the economic targets, resulting in a cut in state expenditures and a lower income stated in the draft state budget for 2016.
The economic growth target has been trimmed from 5.5% to 5.3%, while the rupiah’s value has been reduced to IDR13,900 per dollar. The oil price target has been set at US$50 per barrel from $60 per barrel, according to a separate report by Antara News.
The state income was cut to IDR1,822 trillion (US$136.41 billion) from IDR1,848 trillion, and the state expenditure was reduced to IDR2,095 trillion from IDR2,121.3 trillion set previously.
Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the central government’s spending target was cut from IDR1,339 trillion to IDR1,325 trillion, and transfer to the regions and rural fund was reduced from IDR782 trillion to IDR770.2 trillion.
Meanwhile, the taxation revenue target was revised down from IDR1,565 trillion to IDR1,546 trillion and non-tax state revenues were reduced from IDR280.3 trillion to IDR273.8 trillion.
The deficit in the state budget is projected at IDR273.2 trillion or 2.15% of the gross domestic product.
Photo: Prayudi Setiadharma
