TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution said that the government is aiming to improve Indonesia’s ease of doing business (EoDB) ranking.

“We rank 91st in EoDB. We have to keep fighting and we have to be ready this year. I have my own prediction of our position at the end of the year. We have to keep fighting to leapfrog Vietnam,” Darmin said yesterday in Central Jakarta.

Vietnam now ranks 82nd. Indonesia ranked 91st in EoDb based on a data released in 2016, or up 15 places from its previous position.

Ease of doing business in Indonesia needs to be improved to attract more investors and even more so because the government is expecting to complete infrastructure projects. According to Darmin, the state budget is not enough to fund the projects. “We have to involve private firms.”

Darmin said that infrastructure project will have a multiplier effect. As a result, Indonesia has managed to arrest economic slowdown. “In 2016, we recovered. We have to be thankful because most of world economies did not manage to recover,” he said.

Darmin said that the government is getting better in controlling inflation. 2016 saw inflation maintained at 3.02 percent. “Another piece of good news is that [economic] growth increased albeit slightly along with other positive things,” he said.

Indonesia’s economic growth last year reached 5.02 percent. Darmin said that it was a quality growth. “Because unemployment rate dropped, the poverty rate fell and Gini rato also decreased,” he said.

ANGELINA ANJAR SAWITRI