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Business upbeat economy will perform better
The business community and economic observers hope President Jokowi will keep his promise to prioritize key structural reforms so that the economy will perform better than in his first term.
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo greets his supporters after speaking to the press at the Djakarta Theater in Central Jakarta on Wednesday. Early counts showed the former Surakarta mayor had won his reelection bid. (The Jakarta Post/Seto Wardhana)
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usiness players are optimistic that the economy will fare better in the medium term after unofficial election tallies showed incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his running mate Ma’ruf Amin are poised to win the election.
The business community and economic observers hope President Jokowi will keep his promise to prioritize key structural reforms so that the economy will perform better than in his first term.
“Priorities for reform should target improving human-resource capabilities to increase Indonesians’ skills and make them better suited to the challenges faced by business in the modern economy,” executive director for the British Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia (Britcham) Chris Wren said on Wednesday.
According to Wren, the structural reforms could include taxation and incentives for investors in certain sectors such as manufacturing and export-oriented businesses, better coordination across ministries in the formulation or removal of regulations and a further liberalization of the “negative list” with an approach similar to that taken by Vietnam.
Indonesian Shopping Center Tenants Association (Hippindo) chairman Budihardjo Iduansjah echoed the hope that the incoming government’s policies and reforms should be made in a consolidated way so as to avoid policy flip-flops or uncertainties.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Employers Association (APINDO) chairman Hariyadi Sukamdani said the business sector was pleased by the peaceful polls on Wednesday. He said the private sector fully supported Jokowi’s pledge to improve Indonesia’s competitiveness through human capital development, while adding that opening up the labor market to accommodate workers was also essential.
Hariyadi said APINDO would push for reform of Law No. 13/2003 on manpower as the 15-year-old law was outdated and needed to be amended to accommodate recent developments in industry, including anticipating the fourth industrial revolution — colloquially known as Industry 4.0.
