Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said he was optimistic the country's industrial sector would start to recover in 2017 after being in the doldrums over the past several years.
"President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has specially instructed me to increase the contribution of the industrial sector to the country's economy," Airlangga said in a statement here on Friday.
He said in carrying out the instruction, he would need strong commitment of all stakeholders from upstream to downstream, policy makers and industrialists.
Airlangga was speaking as a key speaker at a forum of Focus Group Discussion held by the National Economy and Industry Committee (KEIN) in Bogor.
He said his optimism was based on the series of government economic policy packages creating conducive business climate, deregulation, large scale infrastructure development and cutback in industrial gas price.
If everything goes well about the policy packages, the 5.4 percent growth target for the industrial sector would be reached in 2017, he said.
The target for 2017 is higher than the target set for the industrial sector at around 4.8-5.2 percent in 2016.
Airlangga said President Jokowi was especially concerned with efforts to boost economic growth to open jobs and reduce poverty.
The economic growth target is set at 5.2 percent in 2017 and 7 percent in 2018 and investment target is Rp600 trillion in 2017 and Rp800 trillion in 2018, he said.
The government has even set development targets until 2035 as shown in the National Industrial Development Master Plan (RIPIN) 2015-2035 which outlines visions and missions of the government with industrial development strategies.
Airlangga said the targets include for non-oil/gas industrial sector growth at 10.5 percent, contribution of the non-oil/gas sector to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at 30 percent and contribution of exports of manufactured products to total export earning at 78.4 percent , up from 70 percent in 2015.
Meanwhile, head of the Industrial Development and Research Center (BPPI) of the Industry Ministry Haris Munandar said there are three phases of strategic steps to reach the targets.
The first phase is in the period of 2015-2019, with focus on increasing value added and optimizing natural resources through development of downstream industry in agricultural, mineral and oil/gas sectors.
The second phase is in 2020-2024 with focus on improving competitiveness with environmental concept, bu strengthening the industrial structure , mastery of technology with support from skilled human resources.
The third phase is in 2025-2035, to make Indonesia as a highly industrialized country with strong national industrial structure, and globally competitive based on innovation and technology, he said.
Haris said the program and policies should be directed toward development of export oriented and labor intensive industries such as food and beverage, textile and textile products, footwear and electronic and telematics industries that could contribute considerably to GDP and open many jobs.
He said industrial development in the coming years would be focused on 11 groups of industries - food, pharmaceutical. cosmetics and health equipment, textile, leather, footwear, transport equipment, electronics and telematics, energy generating, capital goods, components, auxiliary material, industrial service, upstream agricultural-based, based metal, mining, oil and gas, creative and various other industries. (WDY)
