Minister Darmin to Focus on Food Issues
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Rabu, 12 Agustus 2015 20:30 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has appointed Darmin Nasution as the new Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs to replace Sofyan Djalil. Darmin, who is a former Bank Indonesia Governor, has set several agendas as his priorities.
"Certainly there are many things to do. The first priority is food [issues]," Darmin said in Jakarta on Wednesday, August 12, 2015.
According to Darmin, issues related to food commodities in Indonesia are related to other sectors. Darmin said that several issues that must be immediately adressed include drought, meat prices and inflation rate.
Darmin added that another priority was related to fiscal policies, particularly state revenue and government spending.
"This is important because it's related to many sectors," Darmin explained.
Darmin claimed that the state budget must be taken into account in setting development plans. Darmin revealed that the state budget and food commodities were some among president Jokowi's main priorities.
In addition, Darmin said that he would attend to the investment sector. Darmin viewed that lack of investment would affect the incoming capital resulting in the fluctuation of exchange rate.
In terms of economic growth, Darmin refused to set a specific target but claimed that he is optimistic that budget spending in the third and fourth quarter of 2015 would grow significantly.
ADITYA BUDIMAN