Quota mismanagement

Quota mismanagement

The government has set up a team to investigate reports issued by the United States, which claims that Indonesia's textile and garment quotas exceed the levels in particular categories set by the United States.

The team will evaluate and monitor the textile and garment quotas allocated for 2001 and report its results to the minister of industry and trade.

This embargo is quite a blow to us as it will cause losses worth US$ 28.35 million to the exporters concerned. The losses may be even bigger as some export products in these categories, which are now still on their way to the U.S., will be denied entry.

Textile and garment exporters have attributed the overlap in quotas to a change in policy on 2001 quotas introduced by Rini's predecesor Luhut B. Pandjaitan. Unfortunately, this policy change has not been implemented in a transparent manner, which has meant that the quota has been allocated to parties that do not deserve it.

It has also been reported that members of the foreign trade directorate general have sold quotas under the pretext of enforcing Ministerial Decree No. 102/2001 on this policy change and that the quota "mafia" have enjoyed fat profits from this transaction.

Minister of Industry and Trade Rini M.S. Soewandi has now revised the decree to better meet the demands of textile and garment exporters and avoid any more quota mismanagement.

Of all the countries that impose quotas on Indonesia's textile and garment exports (the U.S., the European Union, Canada and Norway), the U.S. is the largest single buyer. Now that these problems have arisen they must be solved immediately.

-- Neraca, Jakarta