Govt late anticipating ACFTA impact: Legislator

A legislator criticized the government for its slow movement in anticipating the negative impacts of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), which has affected a number of Indonesian manufacturing industries in the past year.

Airlangga Hartarto, chairing Commission VI on trade and industry affairs at the House of Representatives, said in Jakarta on Monday that many manufacturing industries have closed operations since losing out in competition to Chinese products flooding the Indonesian market.

“With the ACFTA implementation in the past year, Indonesian products in fact cannot compete with similar ones from China, and no actions have been taken by the government to protect Indonesian products. This condition has not only paralyzed foreign investments but also caused a massive labor layoff,” he said.

According to Airlangga, the Trade Ministry should socialize regional free trade and encourage manufacturing industries to produce competitive products with greater efficiency.  

“Besides, no investors from China have come and invested in the country following the ACFTA implementation early last year,” he said. (rms)