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Tanah Abang more important than stock market: VP
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People observe Friday prayers at the Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta on June 10. Tanah Abang hosts Southeast Asia's largest textile market, luring many shoppers from nearby areas. JP/Seto Wardhana. (The Jakarta Post/Seto Wardhana)
V
ice President Jusuf Kalla highlighted on Tuesday the importance of the real economy in ordinary markets, pledging more government support to have businesses in these trading centers become more vibrant.
Speaking to stock market investors, Kalla said the Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta, the biggest textile trading center in Southeast Asia, was more important than the "stock market" at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).
"Tanah Abang market, Senen market (in Central Jakarta) are real sectors. After these sectors thrive, people will then go invest their money in the stock market," Kalla said during the opening of the first trading day of the year at the IDX building in South Jakarta.
To boost such markets, Kalla continued, the government and the central bank would focus on creating an environment of low interest rates and improve infrastructure and regulatory framework.
However, even as Bank Indonesia (BI) has taken a new policy to reduce interest rates, other banks were still reluctant to follow. Interest rates for working capital in small businesses, for example, still hovers above 12 percent a year.
"We have to lower the interest rate more if we want to see the economy at the grassroots [level] kick in," Kalla said. (ren)
