Indonesian President Sets Ambitious Target for Country’s Business Climate

Jakarta, 14 Jumadal Awwal 1437/23 February 2016 (MINA) – Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo said on Monday (Feb 22) that he wants the business climate in the country to improve drastically.

He said Indonesia must at be at number 40 in next year’s World Bank annual ranking for ease of doing business worldwide, better than Thailand, which is ranked 49th this year.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy is placed at 109 out of 189 countries, up from 120th place in 2015. However this is still this far behind its immediate neighbours Singapore and Malaysia, which are ranked first and 18th respectively, Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) reported, quoting CNA.

Speaking to his key economic ministers and Indonesia’s regional leaders in Jakarta, President Widodo said Indonesia remains focused on infrastructure development and deregulation in improving the economy.

He said there are 42,000 regulations currently in Indonesia – on top of the 3,000 local laws – that have become a hindrance to investments.

“Do not add more regulations, so that we can be nimble and quick in overcoming challenges in the world”, said President Widodo, who has instructed his chief economic minister to remove more regulations by April.

“Ministers who are too slow will be replaced. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to replace governors, regents and mayors,” he added.

Measures introduced so far to improve the business climate and attract investments in Indonesia seem to be bearing fruit. The country’s investment agency, BKPM, revealed investments in 2015 jumped by 17.8 per cent compared to the previous year.

This has created 1.4 million jobs throughout 2015, which saw the economy grow by 4.79 per cent – its slowest in six years. The government has targeted 5.3 per cent growth this year.   (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)