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Pessimism over exports needs to be removed, says Bappenas
Indonesia still has an opportunity to increase the contribution that exports make to its economic growth by optimizing non-traditional markets; thus, stakeholders must let go of their pessimism toward the countryâs performance thus far in the export sector, a senior official said
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ndonesia still has an opportunity to increase the contribution that exports make to its economic growth by optimizing non-traditional markets; thus, stakeholders must let go of their pessimism toward the country's performance thus far in the export sector, a senior official said.
The National Development Planning deputy minister for economy, Leonard Tampubolon, said the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) report released on Wednesday was positive about economic stability in Asia-Pacific.
'However, as China is predicted to slow down, we have to be serious about expanding into non-traditional markets,' he said as quoted by Antara in Jakarta on Sunday.
Leonard admitted that during the first quarter of this year, Indonesia's export contributions were not optimal. He claimed, however, that in the second quarter, the government would be serious about working on the performance of exports for non-traditional markets, especially by following up cooperation commitments from the commemoration of the Asian-African Conference in Bandung and Jakarta last month.
Responding to a question on whether export contributions from countries that were non-traditional markets would be significant, Leonard said it would be unlikely that the contributions would be significant in the short term.
'But, it is important for the sustainability [of Indonesia's export performance],' he said.
Leonard went on to say that he was still optimistic that Indonesia's growth rate would be in line with the government's targeted 5.7 percent growth, as detailed in the revised state budget.
He said he was convinced that apart from additional export contributions, the acceleration in realized government investments would make Indonesia's economy grow faster in the second quarter and also in the final two quarters. (ebf)(+++)
