"This is a good opportunity for offsetting the decline in Indonesia`s exports to the global markets," Deputy Minister of Trade Bayu Krisnamurthi said.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government will boost domestic trade by optimising inter-island trade to offset export decline, said Deputy Minister of Trade Bayu Krisnamurthi.
Domestic consumption constitutes 60 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP), which amounts to Rp8,600 trillion.
"This is a good opportunity for offsetting the decline in Indonesia`s exports to the global markets," the deputy minister stated at a press conference here on Tuesday.
According to Bayu, Indonesia`s biggest export destinations - namely, the US and Europe - were currently undergoing an economic slowdown, causing other countries to turn to the Indonesian market which is very potential. Therefore, Indonesia must take advantage of this situation.
Bayu expressed hope that the regional governments would follow East Java in its efforts to boost the domestic market.
He observed that East Java has successfully achieved synchronization by placing trade representatives in all regions outside East Java. According to Bayu, the move quite effectively developed East Java`s networking capacity while increasing its domestic consumption, which constitutes about 5 percent of the GDP.
Indonesia`s economy has grown by only 6.3 percent, falling short of the 6.5-percent growth achieved during the same period last year.
"One of the reasons was export decline. Exports in the period were recorded to have grown by only 7.8 percent, or far less than the figure in the same period last year, which reached 12.3 percent," he added.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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