T

he government has reactivated three task forces to weather the impact of escalating global economic turmoil on the country’s real sector, a minister has said.

The task forces will serve to overcome barriers to domestic industry and trade, secure the domestic market and increase the use of local products, as part of efforts to maintain the competitiveness of local industries, Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said on Tuesday in Jakarta.

Indonesia’s economy has grown at a rate of more than 6 percent in the past two years, primarily on the back of its high domestic consumption, which also makes Southeast Asia’s largest economy resilient to external shocks, especially during global crises.

“The task forces have existed since 2008 when we were successful in countering the world crisis at that time, and now we’re revitalizing them,” he told reporters after a coordination meeting at his office.

The first task force, Hatta said, would focus on solving barriers to domestic trade, especially the slow distribution of goods throughout the country and, he added, in order to support this role, the government would improve facilities at the country’s main seaports to reduce both time and the costs of delivery.

“We will allocate funds from our state budget surplus (SAL), not only to improve our connectivity, particularly in the eastern part [of the country], but also to modernize facilities at our key seaports,” he said, but did not elaborate further on the amount of money to be allocated.

Earlier, the minister had said that the government might allocate Rp 24 trillion (US$2.66 billion), or 29.51 percent of last year’s total budget surplus of Rp 81.32 trillion, to develop necessary infrastructure, mainly in eastern Indonesia, to enhance connectivity and accelerate the distribution of goods.

The second task force, Hatta added, would be aimed at securing the domestic market from illegal goods as well as goods threatening the safety and well-being of local consumers, while the third task force would boost the use of local products, for instance via government procurement.

“We’re revising the presidential regulation on government procurement, with which we will tighten supervision over the use of our local budget for goods and services,” he said.

Hatta added that a revised regulation on procurement was expected to be ready in March and would stipulate that government procurements worth more than Rp 5 billion included locally made goods or locally provided services, offering financing by local financial sources as examples.

Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krishnamurti on the same occasion said the government would also encourage local consumers to use locally made products from certain industrial sectors, such as textiles, garments and footwear, which have expanded significantly during the past few years.

“We expect that the growth of our [domestic] industries will be driven by demand from our households,” he said.