Businessmen still complain about licensing redtape
Businessmen still complain about licensing redtape
JAKARTA (JP): Businessmen are still complaining about arduous
licensing procedures, including difficulties in acquiring land
titles and building permits, Industry Minister Tunky Ariwibowo
said yesterday.
"I received those complaints at a series of meetings with
industrial associations over the last few weeks," Tunky told
reporters after a meeting with President Soeharto.
Tunky, together with officials from the ministries of finance
and trade, had held a series of meetings with industrial
associations to gather input on ways to further expand exports.
The businessmen's suggestions, Tunky added, were quite
fruitful to the government in designing new measures to boost
non-oil exports which last year grew by an estimated 11-12
percent only, far below the 17 percent target.
Tunky said that he and the other officials had met with
leaders from the associations of cement, electronics, textile,
wood, rubber, leather, food and beverages and vegetable oil and
fat industries.
"We have also met with the Korean Business Community to ask
for its views on our export drive," he said, adding that similar
meetings will also be held with the Japanese, American, British
and Australian business communities.
Tunky said officials and businessmen had set annual export
targets for each industrial association and discussed efforts to
achieve those targets.
He said, in the meetings businessmen often raised complaints
about arduous licensing procedures in several areas, including
land titles and building permits, despite the deregulation
package of October, 1993.
Value added tax
He said the textile association suggested that tax incentives
be granted for the development of garment designs, the value
added tax on domestic materials be deferred and the reimbursement
of value added tax already paid on goods exported be expedited.
Some businessmen also asked for more expedient procedures in
opening Letters of Credit for exports, he said.
"We will further discuss these suggestions with the
coordinating ministers for economic and financial affairs,
industry and trade as well as the Economic Reform Team," Tunky
said.
According to Tunky, President Soeharto has instructed that
dialogs be continued with the business community to work out more
effective ways of improving the competitiveness of Indonesian
products on the international market.
Tunky admitted that the declining growth of non-oil exports
last year was also caused by the weak economies in major
importing countries.
"But we should also look into internal factors that affect our
export competitiveness," he said, referring to the importance of
dialogs with the business community.
He said businessmen still complained about the licensing red
tape at local administrations despite the 1993 deregulation that
was supposed to streamline local licenses.
"Deregulation and bureaucratic reform will be continued, to
further improve the overall efficiency of our economy," Tunky
said.
He added that the government was also reviewing what he called
the broad-based (broad spectrum) strategy in the development of
industrial exports whereby the government tried to promote the
exports of as many categories of products as possible.
"We are mulling over to pursue a new strategy that is more
suitable to our competitive advantages," Tunky said. (vin)