"In my opinion, the government has done right in responding to the economic challenges," OJK Chairman Muliaman said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The economic development in two years of President Joko Widodos (Jokowis) government has gained positive responses from an economic analyst, financial authority and businesses.

The Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla (JK) government is considered to have made effective economic breakthroughs and given right responses to global and domestic economic turbulence.

Businesses also claimed to have gained benefit from the economic development in the past two years.

"We see that over the past two years, the economic development in the country has been relatively good," Hariyadi Sukamdani, the chairman of the Indonesian Business Employers Association (Apindo) , said in West Nusa Tenggara on Thursday.

Werry Darta Taifur, an economist specializing in analyzing economic development with the University of Andalas, West Sumatra, said President Jokowi has been able to make effective economic breakthroughs in his two years at the helm.

"It was effective because people felt its impact. Of course, we still need one to two years to see the overall results."

He mentioned a number of breakthroughs made by Jokowi in the past two years such as subsidy reduction, strengthening of the economy through a maritime policy, ushering in the tax amnesty program and pushing the creative economy field.

The tax amnesty program was an interesting piece of economic policy brought in by the Jokowi-JK government. This will boost reforms in the taxation sector in Indonesia. It will have positive impact on the state revenue, especially in the taxation sector.

The tax amnesty policy will reflect well on the state revenues. "But unluckily, the policy is still to be popularized in the region," he noted.

"The other effective breakthrough is in the development of creative economy which is being encouraged nowadays, particularly in Java," he reminded.

However, the role of creative economy in enriching the region is not yet significant. Not many people in the region are interested in developing the creative economy as yet.

People are still to respond effectively to the governments efforts to develop tourism and the creative economy sector.

"The government needs to be consistent in carrying out, evaluating and improving various policies and identify weaknesses," he underlined.

Werry also referred to subsidy policy. He said the fact that subsidy was reduced from Rp177.8 trillion this year to Rp174.9 in the state budget for next year will benefit the people, particularly those who actually deserve it.

Cutting subsidy actually ensures that the benefits indeed reach the targeted recipients. This can happen only if subsidy distribution is tightly supervised throughout.

He also mentioned the governments policy regarding the fisheries sector.

"The war against rampant fish poaching has yielded benefits and Indonesia will be able to better exploit its maritime resources," he added.

The governments decision to sink illegal fishing vessels will enable fishermen to improve their economy. Besides, the income of the regional government will also increase.

On domestic and global economic turmoil, the government is also viewed to have given correct responses.

The Financial Service Authority (OJK) said the government has given right responses to the global and domestic economic turbulence in the past two years.

"In my opinion, the government has done right in responding to the economic challenges," OJK Chairman Muliaman said on Thursday.

He pointed to the series of economic policy packages the government has issued over the past year, saying the policy packages have been issued to deal with the global economic slowdown in the past two years.

"A number of policy packages have been issued, a number of programs of simplification in licensing have been implemented. A lot have been done including in the financial sector," Muliaman said.

The presidential decision on Inclusive Finance to strengthen financial access was in line with what has also been felt globally by other countries."That financial service for the people could make them productive and lift them from poverty," he said.

The government needs to continue intensifying the program and to focus policy especially in the financial sector.

In the meantime, Apindo welcomed the economic performance, saying the country saw good economic development in the past two years.

Apindo also viewed that a number of economic policies issued by the government brought benefits which were felt by businesses. One of these benefits was the issuance of Government Regulation (PP) No. 78/2015 on Labor Wages.

"PP NO.78/2015 turned out to be relatively fair to both employers and workers, even though it still needs improvement as desired by the president," Hariyadi opined

The policy to cut banks lending rates has also proven to be helpful to the business world, though this policy is much supported by the central banks decision to reduce key reference rate.

On certain problems, Hariyadi noted that these occurred only at the level of implementation on the ground, particularly in the bureaucratic corridors of the central and regional governments.

"The problems exist at the bureaucratic level, beginning with the echelon II officials to those in echelon III. These problems were a result of bad coordination," he reminded.

After all, Apindo has 14 thousand large and small members across the country. "Though it has been very helpful, yet many of the policies have yet live up to the desires of the president," Hariyadi pointed out.

The government of Jakowi is also seen as giving attention to the infrastructure. The also shifted its attention on the infrastructure development outside Java.

Golkar Party chairman Setya Novanto said that the infrastructure development on the outskirts of developed areas and in villages outside Java were being improved.

"I see no more java-centric infrastructure project in President Joko Widodo (Jokowis) second year," Novanto said on Thursday.

All infrastructure development projects are expected to be completed soon in an attempt to accelerate economic growth in the region. The cabinet has worked well through a number of programs, such as maritime shaft program and the National Health Insurance (JKN) program.(*)

Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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