"We have prepared a draft government regulation, though it had yet to be finalized," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution remarked in Jakarta on Wednesday night.
The regulation is deemed necessary since the import of consumer goods through e-commerce platforms is growing rapidly, he pointed out.
Moreover, the government is making all-out efforts to curb the trade deficit that had reached US$1.93 billion since early this year, he added.
To this end, all relevant stakeholders are in the process of finalizing the draft regulation after realizing that the import of consumer goods through e-commerce platforms has different patterns, he explained.
"The import of consumer goods has different patterns. We are benchmarking ourselves but must not be too loose in our approach with other countries," he remarked.
The minister highlighted the need for the regulation to restrict the import of consumer goods through e-commerce platforms from neighboring countries, such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia.
The idea of stemming the imports of consumer goods through e-commerce platforms is not something new-fangled to retain the competitive edge of the domestic industry.
However, calls have reverberated with rising intensity to stem the imports of consumer goods through e-commerce platforms since most are foreign goods.
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Translator: Satyagraha,Suharto
Editor: Azizah Fitriyanti
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