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Kadin calls for less reliance on imported raw materials
About 76 percent of raw materials for the manufacturing industry is currently being imported.
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Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) chairman Rosan P. Roeslani (JP/Anton Hermansyah)
T
he Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has called on the government to find a way to reduce the country’s dependency on imported raw materials for its manufacturing industry, which has become the main factor of the widening current account deficit.
Kadin chairman Rosan P Roeslan said on Thursday that about 76 percent of raw materials for the manufacturing industry was imported.
“We believe that we can buy our own raw materials to narrow the current account deficit,” he said during an Idul Fitri open house event at his residence in Jakarta as quoted by kontan.co.id.
This is important to prepare for an extended global economic slowdown exacerbated by the worsening trade war between the United States and China, he said, adding that businesspeople had also braced for possibly worsening conditions.
The business community has been trying to maintain household spending and the people’s purchasing power as well as boost investment, he said.
Investment contributes about 34 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
Rosan said he appreciated the government’s efforts to expand exports to non-traditional markets, like countries in Africa and the Middle East.
He added that while the US-China trade war was heating up, Indonesia could still be able to increase exports of certain products, pointing out that exports of textile increased by 25 to 30 percent because the products were more competitive in the global market.
He stressed the need for Indonesia to benefit from investment opportunities coming from the industrial relocations from other countries as an impact of the trade war, which had started to flow to neighboring countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Thailand. (bbn)
