Govt focuses more on small, medium firms

Govt focuses more on small, medium firms

JAKARTA (JP): Government economic policies will be geared more
towards promoting small and medium enterprises and less on big
businesses, Minister of Finance Bambang Sudibyo said on Saturday.

Bambang said the development of small and medium enterprises
had been neglected in the past with business conglomerates
receiving all the attention, Antara reported.

Developing the economy based on improving the welfare of the
people and stepping up production by raising the value of goods
will speed up the country's goal for a civil society, he was
quoted as saying at the Ansor Youth Movement regional seminar in
Jambi Saturday.

The minister blamed the conglomerates for ruining the economy
and putting Indonesia into heavy debt. They had too much leeway
in controlling the economy during the New Order Regime, he said.

"It's enough that after 32 years they've destroyed this
country. Their elbowroom is now being cut down to size," he said.

The government of President Abdurrahman Wahid will no longer
give special privileges to those conglomerates, Bambang said.

The government will not tolerate practices of corruption,
collusion and nepotism, including by business people.

"Nobody is above the law," he said.

Bambang likened his task to "doing the dirty dishes after a
big bash." Cleaning up will take a long time, he added.

"I should be called Menteri Kehutangan (minister of debts),
because all I do is pay debts," he quipped.

Bambang also said that the government subsidies, intended to
assist the poor, had been misdirected.

"According to the law, the object of the subsidies is to
benefit the less fortunate people. In reality, the subsidies have
been enjoyed by people in the middle and upper income groups," he
said.

The benefits of subsidized electricity, fuel, and fertilizers
have largely gone to people in the upper income groups. Poor
people who live in small villages and along the coastline hardly
ever benefited from them, he said.

The government has been mandated by the International Monetary
Fund to phase out the fuel subsidy, but the House of
Representatives delayed increasing some of the fuel prices
originally planned for April 1.

Bambang said the government plans to revamp its subsidy system
by targeting directly those in the lower income groups.

The government will also set higher tax rates for those in the
upper income group, he added. (10)