TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Trade Ministry said that the United States Government shutdown (US shutdown) currently taking place has not yet had significant impacts on Indonesia’s foreign trades.
According to Oke Nurwan, the Director General of Foreign Trade at the Trade Ministry, the temporary shutdown has affected government activities more.
Similar to the 2013 US government shutdown, according to Oke, there were several US State Official visits to Indonesia that were canceled.
“Business to business is still normal, but we will continue to monitor the long-term effects,” said Oke on Monday, January 22.
The US government shutdown took place on Friday evening, January 19. They were forced to take the step after the negotiation between President Donald Trump and the US Congress regarding funding was deadlocked.
Read: US Government Shutdown Begins as Spending Bill Fails in Senate
Several departments were affected by this shutdown such as the Trade Department, NASA, Department of Labor, the US Department of housing and urban development, and the department of energy.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Coordinating Ministry of Economics chose not to provide an official reaction towards the US government shutdown. “I no comment about that matter,” said Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution at the Bank Indonesia headquarters today.
Economic researcher with or the Institute for development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara reminded the Indonesian government that the US government shutdown may affect Indonesia’s trade activities if it takes place in a long period of time.
FAJAR PEBRIANTO
