Ministers concerned with economic policies are scheduled to start deliberating the draft once President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo returns from his visits to South Korea and Russia next week.

Unlike the past 12 economic policy packages that revolve around deregulations and efforts to ease general business procedures, the new policy would improve business procedures in certain sectors, Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said.

“We will be going into the details sector by sector, including [related procedures] at the regional level,” Darmin said at the Presidential Office on Wednesday.

The minister added that many investors complained of multifarious procedures they need to go through to receive a business permit.

“While investors will need go through the existing procedures, we want to make those procedures clearer and simpler. At least, [the rules] should be more certain than before, so that investors know exactly how long the procedures would take,” Darmin said.

As a former furniture businessman, President Jokowi knows first hand how complicated it is to set up a business in Indonesia — starting up can take months due to dozens of costly procedures.

Last month, in its 12^th economic stimulus package that focuses on the ease of doing business, the government scrapped many procedures to save both time and money required for starting a business.

By July this year, the President has also pledged to scrap 3,000 regional government regulations (Perda) that have made it much more complicated for businesses to set up and operate.

Jokowi, who is a former Surakarta mayor, has embarked on an ambitious mission to elevate Indonesia to at least the 40th rank among 189 economies surveyed in the 2017 World Bank’s Doing Business report. If achieved, it would make a significant jump from 109th position in 2016 and 120th in 2015. (dmr)

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