Deregulation to be announced today

Deregulation to be announced today

JAKARTA (JP): After a second consecutive day of delay, the government will announce its much-awaited economic deregulation package this morning.

An announcement on a notice board at the Ministry of Industry and Trade stated that the government would issue the package this morning at 10.00 a.m.

The government delayed issuing the package for a second time yesterday. It gave no explanation for the delay. An informed source, however, said that "a number of matters still needed some adjustments."

Ministers said recently that the new deregulation package is designed to boost exports.

The new package has been awaited because exports have grown much slower than imports, thereby deepening the current account deficit to an estimated US$7.9 billion this fiscal year.

The last deregulation package, issued last May, cut import tariffs on more than 6,000 items by an average of 20 percent.

The May deregulation package was widely welcomed but also criticized as being a "cosmetic" package barely affecting state- controlled commodities like wheat, rice and sugar. (rid)