Banks told to open offices overseas
Banks told to open offices overseas
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto yesterday urged Indonesian
banks to open offices in other countries to promote the country's
non-oil exports, whose growth is declining.
The President also expressed concern in a limited cabinet
meeting on the economy here that a long dry season may affect
crops in various parts of the country.
"State banks should lead other banks to open offices in other
countries to facilitate transactions of Indonesia's non-oil
exports," Soeharto was quoted as saying at the meeting by
Minister of Information Harmoko.
Soeharto said commercial banks should also expand loans to
industrial companies which export their products.
Indonesia's non-oil exports, which increased by 24.9 percent
in 1991 and by 27.6 percent in 1992, rose by only 16.2 percent to
US$27.07 billion last year. Non-oil exports declined in January
and February of this year before bouncing back in March.
Harmoko said the country's non-oil exports increased by 8.9
percent to $2.41 billion in April over the same month last year.
"The country's total exports in April reached $3.13 billion,
$815.5 million higher than imports in the same month," he said.
He said exports during the first four months of this year
reached $11.63 billion, while imports were recorded at $9.29
billion, thereby resulting in a trade surplus of $2.33 billion.
Harmoko said the President also wanted businessmen to expand
their overseas marketing networks to increase exports to non-
traditional markets.
Textile manufacturers were asked to restructure their
industrial plants to improve the quality of their products and to
increase efficiency, the minister said.
Textiles have been the largest foreign exchange earner from
exports among the country's non-oil products. Textile exports
increased by two percent to $6.18 billion last year from 1992.
Drought
Harmoko said Soeharto warned that a long drought might affect
agricultural crops this year because the dry season has already
started in a number of provinces.
"As of July 5, paddy plants in 113,599 hectares of fields in
Java, Aceh, North Sumatra, Bali and Southeast Sulawesi had gone
dry, of which plants in 22,414 hectares were completely damaged,"
the minister said.
Drought has also affected 11,265 hectares of secondary crops,
of which 1,484 hectares were completely damaged, he said.
He said the President suggested that banks extend loans to
farmers whose crops are completely damaged to allow them to
reschedule the payment of their debts.
The President also instructed that the authorities take
technical steps to bring about rain near irrigation dams, and for
agricultural institutions to introduce Kenyan paddy seeds, which
can grow in dry fields, to farmers burdened by a long dry season.
Harmoko said the cabinet meeting also reported a 0.12 percent
increase in the consumer price index throughout the country in
June.
He explained that food prices in the country's 27 provincial
capitals actually declined by an average of 0.03 percent in May,
housing prices by 0.003 percent and service prices by 0.33
percent, but that prices of clothing rose by an average of 0.22
percent.
The increase in the consumer price index brought the country's
inflation to 4.59 percent during the first six months of this
year, he said.
He said the money supply expanded by one percent to Rp 38.93
trillion ($18 billion) as of May from Rp 38.54 trillion as of
April.
The minister said the cabinet meeting for the first time
discussed developments on tourist arrivals to reinvigorate the
promotion of the tourism industry for foreign exchange earning.
The number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia in the first
five months of the year increased by 18.5 percent to 1.16
million, injecting $1.47 billion into the Indonesian economy. (riz)