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