Govt sets up special team to curb imports<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government has established a special
\nmonitoring team to curb the sharp growth in imports, noted
\neconomist Emil Salim said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Emil, the former state minister for population and
\nenvironment, said that the team, established on Tuesday, would
\nclosely monitor the spending of government and state-owned
\ncompanies on imports.<\/p>\n
Emil said that the establishment of the team, headed by
\nCoordinating Minister for Economy and Finance Saleh Afiff,
\nindicated the government's serious commitment to reducing
\nunnecessary imports.<\/p>\n
\"The team is necessary because, as you'll know, the government
\nrepresents the largest buyer of imports,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Emil said that the government has spent trillions of rupiah in
\nthe past few years importing construction materials for office
\nbuilding projects.<\/p>\n
\"State-owned companies also spent a large amount of money on
\nimports,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The team, whose establishment has not been formally announced,
\nreflects the government's desire to tackle Indonesia's growing
\ncurrent account deficit. The team is expected to complement the
\nactivities of the government's commercial loan monitoring team,
\nestablished five years ago to keep tabs on the inflow of
\ncommercial loans into the country.<\/p>\n
Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad earlier estimated that the
\ncurrent account deficit would rise to US$7.9 billion in the
\ncurrent fiscal year from an estimated $3.49 billion in the
\nprevious year due to the higher growth in imports than exports.<\/p>\n
Imports grew by 32.4 percent during January-September period
\nof last year with imports of consumer goods rising by 70.9
\npercent. For comparison, non-oil exports grew by only 14.2
\npercent during the same period to $25.14 billion from $22.02
\nbillion in the same period of 1994.<\/p>\n
However, some analysts doubt whether the government can really
\nslash the growth of imports.<\/p>\n
Bank Indonesia Governor J. Soedradjad Djiwandono was
\noptimistic, however, that the growth of imports could be reduced
\nto as low as 11 percent.<\/p>\n
He noted that Indonesia has experienced sharp fluctuations in
\nimport growth. Imports grew by 21.3 percent in the 1989-1990
\nfiscal year. The import growth rate increased to 31 percent in
\nthe 1990-1991 fiscal year but dropped drastically to 11.4 percent
\nin 1991-1992, then it fell further to 9.7 percent in the 1992-
\n1993 fiscal year and to 6.6 percent in 1993-1994.<\/p>\n
\"So it's not impossible to reach our target,\" Soedradjad said.
\n(pwn\/hen)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-sets-up-special-team-to-curb-imports-1447893297",
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