Indonesia Sets to Unveil Stimulus Policy on Property amid Asset Repatriation

Jakarta, 29 Syawwal 1437/03 August 2016 (MINA) – The Indonesian government plans to launch an economic stimulus package to revive property sector as a huge of assets has started to repatriate.

Economic ministers held a meeting on Tuesday, discussing the finalization of the package, Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

“We are preparing the package (which) focuses on e-commerce,” he said after the meeting.

The policy is expected to be launched this week or next week, Indonesian Economic Chief Minister Darmin Nasution has disclosed.

Indonesia’s property sector is estimated to accelerate at a faster pace in months to come as a huge influx of repatriated assets is expected to flow into the sector.

Experts have said that the funds would park at banking and property sector as the indexes of the sector have risen significantly at the Jakarta stock market since weeks ago.

In June, the government and parliament endorsed the tax amnesty law, which has bolstered stock markets, triggered capital inflows and strengthened rupiah against the U.S. dollar.

Indonesia said 165 trillion rupiah (some 16.5 billion U.S. dollars) out of 3,147 trillion rupiah (equal to 314,7 billion U.S. dollars) funds owned by Indonesian nationals overseas could be repatriated.

The Indonesian central bank has also supported the sector aggressively applying easing policy at the first half as it has slashed benchmark interest rate by a 100-basis point to 6.5 percent at the period. The lender has promised to continue such policy when there is a room for that in coming months.

President Joko Widodo has unveiled a raft of stimulus packaged since September to lure foreign investment and revive GDP growth. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)