RI sets $60 billion target from export earnings: Luhut

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Industry and Trade Luhut Pandjaitan said on Monday that Indonesia expected to reap US$60 billion in export revenue next year, an increase of $5 billion from an estimated $55 billion this year.

"It's my hope that export revenue can reach $60 billion next year, we'll see if we can get even more than that, I am quite optimistic," Luhut told reporters after attending the House of Representatives' state budget plenary meeting.

The government initially predicted $44.8 billion in total exports this year, but thanks to favorable crude oil prices the government may see its target exceed by over $10 billion.

But Luhut added that a real export target had yet to be worked out.

He said that there were many factors which may boost the export target next year to beyond this year's estimated $55 billion.

In its quarterly economic report, Bank Indonesia predicted continued strong export growth on the back of a recovering economy and the present high crude oil prices.

Data from Bank Indonesia showed that up until Sept. 2000, total exports reached $34.8 billion, growing by 19.6 percent as compared to the same period last year.

In the non-oil and gas sector, growth was mainly driven by industrial and mining products, which grew by 25.1 percent and 4.8 percent respectively.

High growth in industrial export products were mainly recorded in exports of electronic appliances, paper and textiles. Whereas exports of aluminum and nickle were the main contributors in mining exports.

However, exports of agricultural products declined by 2.9 percent, largely because of declining world prices of agricultural commodities.

Luhut confirmed that several key export products like textiles, electronics and footwear were showing robust growth.

To further boost their exports, he said, the government planned to meet electronics principals in Japan.

"We will meet in Japan to talk to their (exporters') principals to expand their businesses here because the potentials here are big," he said.

"It looks like they're going to give their go ahead," he added.

Luhut said that once he had returned from Japan, he would have a clearer picture on how to encourage the Japanese investors to invest here.

"We're focusing on developing the businesses that they have already developed successfully in the country such as electronics and software," he said.

He said he would meet next month with several large exporters to discuss ways of improving their exports.

Indonesia booked record export levels for three months in a row, as exports climbed to $5.54 billion in August from $5.35 billion the previous month, according to the Central Bureau for Statistics (BPS).

Bank Indonesia's report also cited the persistently weak rupiah against the U.S dollar to have raised the competitiveness of local products abroad.

Furthermore, Bank Indonesia said that the availability of the General System Preference (GSP) in several export markets had helped textile exporters.

In the first half of this year, the country's trade surplus reached $12.6 billion, with exports totaling $30.3 billion as against total imports of $17.7 billion, the bank said. (bkm)