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New investment minister pledges to cut red tape, equalize funding
Newly appointed Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia has vowed to spur investment by focusing on carrying out the Jobs Creation Law, which aims to improve the country's investment climate by revising at least 79 laws.
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Newly appointed Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia (center) delivers a speech after his inauguration ceremony in Jakarta on Wednesday. (Courtesy of BPMI Setpres)
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ewly appointed Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia has pledged to boost investment and spread it out across the archipelago by cutting red tape and regulating big businesses as the government seeks to revive the economy.
Following his inauguration on Wednesday, Bahlil said that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had ordered the newly established ministry to, essentially, implement the Job Creation Law in attracting domestic and foreign investment.
He said the ministry would promote investment in areas outside Java, simplify the permit procedures for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and “mate” big businesses with MSMEs to foster economic growth on top of carrying out other red tape-cutting measures stipulated in the jobs law.
“The President, noting the Job Creation Law, told us that holding back someone’s permit is like holding back the national economy, employment rates, state revenue and our ease-of-doing-business ranking,” he said in a virtual press conference on Wednesday.
Bahlil’s appointment came a few weeks after the House of Representatives approved the President’s proposal to form the Investment Ministry in exchange for dissolving the Research and Technology Ministry as prevailing regulations cap the number of ministries at 34.
Read also: Ministry merger feared to jeopardize focus on science, research
The appointment marked the start of upgrading the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) into a ministry in a move that grants Bahlil and the agency more legal and financial power to improve the country’s investment climate.
