Marine, Fishery GDP Growth Target Set at 7%

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Members of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) is drafting a marine and fisheries development roadmap for Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla's administration. They are targeting to have seven percent annual GDP growth in the sector for the 2015-2019 period.

Kadin's data stated that the fishery's sector GDP grew 6.45 percent last year, higher than the national growth of 5.78 percent.

Yugi Prayanto, Kadin's deputy for Marine and Fishery, is confident that GDP growth in the fishery sector could be higher, as there are abundant resources in the upstream with minimal processing. Currently, there are only 580 registered fish processing companies operating in Indonesia.

"These companies are still able to grow more rapidly," he said in a discussion in Jakarta, yesterday.

Joseph Abraham, chairman of the Foreign Banks Association of Indonesia (FBAI), previously said that the Indonesian maritime has huge potential. That's why, banks are eyeing the sector for the credit market.

According to Joseph, international banks can provide syndicated loans to help run marine infrastructure development projects. "We cannot just rely on the government's limited budget to improve marine infrastructure, we must also look for other sources of financing," he said. 

PINGIT ARIA | AISHA SHAIDRA | RACHMA TRI WIDURI