TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said he wanted Indonesia to open as wide as possible investment for iron, steel, and petrochemical sectors, which are believed to be able to lower the current account deficit.

The President conveyed his statement at his office on Wednesday, December 11, during a limited meeting on the acceleration of the implementation of industrial and trade programs.

During the session, he said the government focuses to maintain positive economic growth, reduce the current account deficit, and boost the trade balance surplus. So innovative measures to reduce imports are deemed necessary.

Quoted from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data on imports, the President went on, imports in raw materials or auxiliary materials made a high contribution of 75.06 percent of the total imports in January-October 2019, while imports in capital goods and consumption goods amounted to 16.65 percent and 9.29 percent, respectively.

In detail, the highest value of imports in raw materials came from iron and steel worth US$8.6 billion, followed by imports in petrochemical at US$4.9 billion.

"Based on the data, I ask for investment opportunities for, please underline, the import substitution industry must be wide open, such as steel, chemical or petrochemical industries," he remarked.

Jokowi further ordered Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Bahlil Lahadalia and Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Luhut Binsar Panjaitan to take notes in investment opportunities for import substitution sector. He added concrete steps are necessary to boost the growth of the said industries.

BISNIS