TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said the Covid-19 pandemic must not stop efforts to carry out structural reforms. The government will continue various structural reform agendas.

“We will continue to cut off regulations that hinder the ease of doing business. We will continue to simplify our business and investment procedures,” he said in the virtual launching of the latest version of the Online Single Submission or OSS licensing system on Monday, August 9.

This needed to be done, he underlined, because he wanted the business climate in Indonesia to become more conducive by making it easier for micro, small, medium, and large entrepreneurs to start businesses. Thus, investors’ confidence in creating as many job opportunities as possible would be stronger, and so that would also be a solution to the rising unemployment rate due to the pandemic.

He further explained that in the 2020 World Bank report, Indonesia was ranked 73 out of 190 in terms of ease of doing business (EODB). This means the country was in the easy category.

“But that category is not enough. We must be able to improve again, from easy to very easy. That is our target,” the state head remarked.

The key to improving it, Jokowi went on, is the reform in business licensing, which is integrated, fast, and simple, as an instrument that determines competitiveness to attract investment. Therefore, the government launched an OSS licensing system using a risk-based approach today, amid the pandemic.

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MUHAMMAD HENDARTYO