TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Govt insists on opening financial services for AEC
Anticipated improvements: Government efforts are underway to reform pre-customs clearances at the countryâs majorseaports, including Indonesiaâs busiest port Tanjung Priok (pictured), to improve efficiency
Change Size
Anticipated improvements: Government efforts are underway to reform pre-customs clearances at the countryâs majorseaports, including Indonesiaâs busiest port Tanjung Priok (pictured), to improve efficiency. Greater efficiency is expectedto reduce logistics costs, which will make products more competitive.(JP/Ricky Yudhistira) (pictured), to improve efficiency. Greater efficiency is expectedto reduce logistics costs, which will make products more competitive.(JP/Ricky Yudhistira)
A
span class="inline inline-center">Anticipated improvements: Government efforts are underway to reform pre-customs clearances at the country's majorseaports, including Indonesia's busiest port Tanjung Priok (pictured), to improve efficiency. Greater efficiency is expectedto reduce logistics costs, which will make products more competitive.(JP/Ricky Yudhistira)
The government has called on the House of Representatives to ratify the sixth package of protocols for the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS), which obliges ASEAN members to liberalize several sectors for each other, including financial services.
The protocols are among the ASEAN programs that are gradually opening services among its members in relation to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The House's approval is expected before April, said Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro.
"Indonesia is expected to submit its ratification of the protocols to the ASEAN ministerial meeting on finance in Laos in April," he said during a meeting with the House's Commission XI overseeing finance in Jakarta on Monday.
Among the 10 ASEAN countries, only Indonesia and Cambodia have yet to ratify the sixth package of protocols. "Other countries ratified it in the third quarter and fourth quarter of 2015," Bambang said.
In the sixth package, he continued, Indonesia must allow banks of all ASEAN members to open branches in 11 cities. "The Indonesian commitment to the sixth package has not changed much from the fifth package of protocols. Unlike other countries, we are not adding a new sector," he explained.
As previously reported, Indonesia has ratified all five AFAS protocol packages through a presidential regulation (Perpres) and presidential decree (Kepres). The ratification of the sixth package is to be done through a Perpres after obtaining the House's approval, Bambang said.
Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo added that the ASEAN banking integration framework (ABIF) is the main priority in AFAS. "The principles of ABIF are reciprocity, accelerated integration of banking, comprehensiveness, readiness, access and transparency," he said. (ags)(+)
