Indonesia forms task force to boost exports

Jakarta, September 26 (ANTARA) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has formed a task force to increase national exports amid global economic and geopolitical dynamics.

The task force, comprising a steering team and an executing team, is also aimed to strengthen the country's trade balances, according to a presidential decree which was accessed at the Ministry of State Secretariat's website on Tuesday.

The Presidential Decree No. 24 of 2023 regarding the National Export Increase Task Force was stipulated by Jokowi on September 20, 2023.

The steering team is chaired by the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs with Trade Minister and Finance Minister as deputies. They are supported by 11 ministers and the chairperson of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) as members.

The steering team is tasked with formulating an adaptive and responsive export increase policy and establishing integrated and collaborative strategic steps to implement the policy.

They are also tasked with determining breakthrough steps to quickly and precisely resolve strategic problems that arise in the process of increasing exports.

The steering team should cooperate with relevant ministries and institutions, regional governments, as well as business actors and associations.

The executing team members will be appointed by the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs.

According to Statistics Indonesia, the country's exports in January–August 2023 reached US$171.52 billion or down 11.85 percent compared to the same period in 2022. Meanwhile, non-oil and gas exports reached US$161.13 billion or down 12.27 percent.