Sambutan Presiden RI - Pertemuan dengan Forum Bisnis Belanda, Den Haag, 22 April 2016

Jumat, 22 April 2016
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SAMBUTAN PRESIDEN REPUBLIK INDONESIA

PERTEMUAN DENGAN FORUM BISNIS BELANDA

DEN HAAG, BELANDA

22 APRIL 2016

 

 

 

Excellency Minister for Foreign Trade and International Cooperation, Mrs. Lilianne Ploumen,

Excellency President Confederation of Industry, Mr. Hans de Boer,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Good afternoon,

 

It is wonderful for me to be here today.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I was told that there has not been a visit by the President of Indonesia to Holland in sixteen years. Verschrikkelijk. Terrible. Ik kan me niet voorstellen.

 

Holland is the old friend and strongest supporter of Indonesia in the European Union. From now on, the President of Indonesia must come to Holland minimum every three years, minimum.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the beginning of this year, we experienced a pleasant surprise.
If you recall, at the beginning of this year, we saw a major volatility in the global capital markets.

 

The stock market in China declined significantly, triggering circuit-breakers. The stock market in the United States declined. The price of crude oil plummeted.

 

And yet, our currency, the rupiah, was stable. And our stock-market went down only a little bit.

 

Then, when our fourth-quarter GDP numbers came out in January, it turned out that growth exceeded the forecasts of all 23 forecasting institutions. The consensus forecast was for 4.8% year-on-year growth. Instead, we achieved growth of 5.04% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2015.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I believe that, in Indonesia, we have reached a measure of economic stabilization. Our first-quarter 2016 GDP numbers will be out very shortly. Growth may go up a little, or it may go down a little.

 

However, I believe we have stabilized in the region of around 5% annual growth rates. Our goal will be to gradually raise our growth rate from these levels.

 

How did we achieve this economic stabilization? We have turned to two growth engines to support our economic growth at this time: infrastructure-development and investment.

 

When taking office around eighteen months ago, our government launched the largest infrastructure-development program in the history of our country. You can check with your journalists in Indonesia. You can check with your ambassador in Jakarta. I believe most of them are surprised by how much infrastructure is getting built in Indonesia today.

 

Investment, our second growth engine, is also stabilizing and improving. As the Asian Development Bank recently declared—and I quote—“There is capital outflow from China, and then there is capital inflow to Indonesia.

 

This is the highest level of investor interest in Indonesia’s history.” The 30% devaluation of our currency has made investing in Indonesia quite attractive.

 

China’s economy is transitioning from production to consumption, from industry to the service sector, from simple manufacturing to higher-value manufacturing. Factories are leaving China, and relocating to Southeast Asia.

 

Of course, Indonesia will get a sizable share of those factories, considering that we are the largest economy in Southeast Asia, accounting for around 45% of Southeast Asia’s GDP.

 

What makes all this possible? Very simple: economic reform.

 

Within one month of taking office, we cut wasteful fuel subsidies by 80% to free up 20 billion dollars per year of fiscal space, which we are spending on infrastructure, healthcare and education.

 

In August of last year, I reshuffled my cabinet to bring in more technocrats and professionals.

 

In September, we launched a major deregulation campaign.

 

Since then, we have issued eleven policy packages, covering port clearance, improved customs facilities, lower energy costs for industry, revising the Negative List of Investment to open more sectors to more foreign investment, and many other reforms.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have focused down our economic reform program to two fundamental principles:  openness and competition.

 

Technology has made the world borderless. Supply chains are becoming ever more global. Social media is making the world go faster and faster. For any country, the choice is only two, be open or be closed.

 

In my mind, for Indonesia, the answer is very clear. We must be open. In fact, our country is already open.

 

But overregulation in recent years has made the business environment too difficult for domestic businesses, as well as for international businesses in Indonesia. That is why we are deregulating now.

 

On competition, the history of our country shows that competition brings out the best in us. For example: our petrol stations.

 

We used to have only one single petrol-station company, operated by Pertamina, our state-owned oil company. The petrol stations were dirty and broken-down. Service was terrible. The product was suspicious.

 

Then, then, around seven years ago, we opened up the petrol station sector, and several international operators came in: Total, Shell, Petronas and a few others. Pertamina had to scramble to renovate their petrol stations and improve service.

 

Today, Pertamina petrol stations are bright, shiny. The service attendants wear bright, clean uniforms. There are minimarts at the petrol stations. They take credit cards.

So, once again, openness and competition.

 

I am here to assure you, to assure you that we will continue to reform. We will continue to simplify our regulations. We will continue to open our economy.

 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I hope you can take a fresh look at investing in Indonesia. I believe it will be a very different place, a more open, more forward-looking place

 

Ue bent onser Angehoorden. We kijken er naar uit u te verwelkomen in Indonesie. Dankje well. Thank you very much.

*****

Biro Pers, Media dan Informasi

Sekretariat Presiden