He expressed the hope that the program, initiated by governor-elect Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga during their campaign prior to the recent Jakarta election, could boost the number of investors at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

"Currently the number of local stock investors is just 1 million, less than 1 percent of the  country’s 250 million people," he said after opening an OK OCE Stock Center at the IDX building in Jakarta on Friday.

(Read also: Jakmart, OK-OCE Mart likely to be merged)

“Our dream is to increase the number of investors by up to 2 percent of the population or 5 million investors”

The OK OCE program will open stock centers in 44 districts in Jakarta, allowing people to open an investment account and invest with Rp 100,000 (US$7.51), said Sandiaga.

On the campaign trail, Sandiaga promised to create 200,000 entrepreneurs in Jakarta through the program, which currently has 15,000 participants.

Sandiaga added that the stock centers would organize training to help people invest. He hoped that investing in the capital market would become common among the public.

"I remember, when I was still living in Singapore, in 1999, housewives there always paid attention to the stock ticker screen, looking at their stocks, before they went to buy groceries. This shows a mature capital market community," he said. (bbn)

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