Govt plans import tariff cutbacks
Govt plans import tariff cutbacks
JAKARTA (JP): The government plans import tariff cuts as part
of its fresh economic deregulation package aimed to boost
exports, Minister of Industry Tunky Ariwibowo said here
yesterday.
"Just wait. The package is expected to be announced soon,"
Tunky told reporters after meeting President Soeharto.
Coordinating Minister for Industry and Trade Hartarto said
last week that the planned package was expected to be announced
in January, at the latest.
Widjojo Nitisastro, an economic adviser to the government,
also said recently that the government had prepared another
deregulation package but its announcement is waiting for the
outcome of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit
in Osaka later this week.
Tunky explained that the planned package is aimed at boosting
exports of certain commodities, including textiles, pulp, plywood
and electronic products.
Exports of plywood and textiles, which have become the
backbone of Indonesia's non-oil exports, experienced serious
decline during the past years.
According to the Central Bureau for Statistics, Indonesia's
plywood exports dropped by 14.15 percent during the first seven
months of this year to US$1.98 billion from $2.3 billion in the
same period of last year. For the whole year of 1994, exports of
this commodity fell by 11.95 percent to $3.7 billion from $4.2
billion in the previous year.
Exports of textiles dropped by 6.19 percent last year to $5.8
billion from $6.2 billion in 1993. During the January-July period
of this year, however, textile exports increased by 1.45 percent
to $3.39 billion from $3.34 billion in the same period of last
year.
The government has issued a number of economic deregulation
packages in the past few years aimed at sustaining growth rates.
The latest package, announced last May, cut import tariffs on
more than 6,000 items, or 64.16 percent of the existing tariffs.
Tunky said he would fly to Japan later yesterday to discuss
the possible relocation of small-scale Japanese companies in
Indonesia.
"This time, I will meet Japanese businessmen, not government
officials," Tunky said. "I will, among others, discuss the
relocation of small-scale Japanese electronic factories into
Indonesia. We have prepared locations for them." (rid)