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Businesses in doubt over Latin American markets amid unrest
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Activity is seen at Koja cargo terminal in Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta on Feb. 19. (JP/Damar Harsanto)
L
atin America is becoming less of a potential market and more like a cautionary tale, as businesses wait out the political upheaval and President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo warns the nation's security authorities not to fall into the same trap as those in countries like Bolivia and Chile.
The region has been rocked with political turmoil, with people staging protests against their governments, most recently in Bolivia, whose president Evo Morales was forced to resign after weeks of street protests over his disputed reelection for an unconstitutional fourth term. Different waves of protests have also erupted in Paraguay, Peru and Ecuador, as well as Chile -- the only country that currently has a potential to become Indonesia’s trade hub in the region.
Amid political uncertainties in Latin America, Indonesian businesses and exporters have been observing and studying the markets in the region, during which they would naturally look for the most stable markets with a minimum level of risk, said Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (Kadin) vice chairwoman for international relations, Shinta Kamdani.
“Our attention to politically unstable countries is also not too much, except if the market is as big as Brazil,” Shinta told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
In a meeting with local leaders and security personnel on Wednesday, Jokowi took the examples of mass protests around the world, including in Hong Kong, Chile and Bolivia, to illustrate the danger of unmanaged public discontent.
“[Mass protest] also happened in Chile because the public transportation fares were increased by 4 percent. The APEC Summit that should’ve been held this month was canceled [due to the unrest]. So be careful of discontent like this,” Jokowi told the meeting in Bogor, West Java.
In recent years, Jokowi has been seeking to expand Indonesia’s trade and investment portfolio in nontraditional markets, including in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.
