BI Calls on Three Provinces to Expand Economic Activities

TEMPO.CO, Semarang - Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor Mira Adityaswara said on Wednesday, June 3, 2015 that an effort to diversify the economy must be initiated to avoid trade deficit trend amid the recent economic slowdown.

Mirza has called on several provinces, including Riau, Aceh and Papua to diversify its economic activities following economic decline in the three regions. Mirza explained that the national economic slowdown occurred as a result of the US Central Bank's signal to increase its interest rate by 0.25 percent.

The policy has caused a number of global investors to withdrawn their investment from developing countries, including Indonesia. In addition, the Chinese government had recently issued environmental-related polices and initiated a program to balance its economy and environment.

"Chinese economic slowdown policy has affected Indonesia's exports causing it to decline and show deficit trend," Mirza said.

Iskandar Simorangkir, the head of the Central Java branch of Bank Indonesia, said that Central Java's export performance still continued to increase, with the majority of the exports went to the United States at 25 percent, Europe at 19 percent, and China at 10 percent.

EDI FAISOL