President Jokowi Reprimands Senior Minister, Investment Chief over Low Investment

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has reprimanded his Senior Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and Investment Chief Bahlil Lahadalia over a six percent contraction in investment in the third quarter of 2020.

“Our investment in the third quarter contracted by six percent. It is still below the target of negative five percent. But, we will wait for the BPS [Central Statistics Agency] data. It will likely be a six percent contraction approximately,” said President Jokowi before the cabinet minister at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday, November 2.

Jokowi said that previously the government targeted to post negative five percent in investment in the third quarter.

Also read: Jokowi Reprimands Cabinet Ministers for Poor Public Communication on Jobs Law, Says President’s Aide

Going forward, Jokowi asked Luhut and Bahlil to improve the investment in the fourth quarter.

“I have reminded the head of Coordinating Investment Board and the Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister to reach better than negative five percent in investment in the third quarter. But it didn’t happen,” he said.

He added that currently, Indonesia has retained the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits from the United States, providing incentives for many Indonesian export products.

The president told his ministers to take advantage of these facilities to increase exports and attract as many American investors as possible to Indonesia.

“This is an opportunity because we are the only country in Asia that gets this benefit and we hope that our exports will increase following the GSP facility that has been provided for us,” said Jokowi.

Also read: Indonesia’s Economy Contracts 5.32 Percent, Says Central Statistics Agency

“Hopefully, this can attract foreign investors to establish their factories in Indonesia,” he said.
President Jokowi has projected that the economy will likely contract by three percent in the third quarter after it shrank by 5.32 percent in the second quarter of 2020.

“In the next few days, BPS will announce the country’s economic growth. We estimate that the economy will likely contract by three percent, a slight increase [from the second quarter],” he said.

Based on this forecast, Indonesia’s economic growth shows a positive trend.

“The trend is improving, it is a positive trend. This should be emphasized later during the announcement by BPS,” said Jokowi.

“Indeed, this is still much better compared to other countries.” 

(Writer: Rakhmat Nur Hakim | Editor: Kristian Erdianto)

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/11/02/15503941/target-investasi-meleset-jokowi-tegur-luhut-dan-bahlil?page=1.