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Jokowi to focus on structural reform to tap growth potential
With the stability of the monetary sector this year, the President has more room to embark on structural reform to lay a stronger foundation for Southeast Asia’s largest economy to grow further.
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The Balikpapan-Samarinda toll road project cuts through the Samboja region in Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan, in this August 2019 file photo. President Joko Widodo has said that he will focus on nationwide infrastructure connectivity in his second and final term. (JP/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)
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peaking at the Bank Indonesia Annual Meeting (PTBI) on the evening of Nov. 28, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said that his priority was to unleash a structural reform agenda beyond the fiscal, financial and monetary sectors to ensure the effective achievement of the government's economic goals.
While he would focus on structural reform, Jokowi said that Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Perry Warjiyo and Financial Services Authority (OJK) chairman WImboh Santoso were fully entrusted with assessing and managing the country’s economic performance.
“Monetary and financial [matters] are [the authority] of BI and the OJK. On the fiscal side, it is the Finance Minister who must be prudent and careful. My work will focus outside [the fiscal and monetary authorities],” Jokowi said in his speech, delivered to an audience comprised of senior banking and finance executives.
Jokowi, formerly a mayor of Surakarta, Central Java, and Jakarta, said infrastructure development would remain one of his signature policies in his second and final term. He emphasized that the development projects would connect all existing toll roads to industrial zones, tourist destinations and production centers across the country.
He added that one of the government’s immediate priorities was to seek ways to improve Indonesia’s trade balance and current account, such as the development of import-substitution and export-oriented industries.
“For example, coal could be processed into DME [dimethyl ether] and to polypropylene that could substitute our LPG [liquefied petroleum gas]. Why haven’t we done this [before]? Because we were happy with imports,” said Jokowi.
The government was also working to improve the country's investment climate as it prepared to introduce the omnibus law on job creation, which would effectively remove the barrier to investment identified in the existing 74 laws.
