Indonesia to reduce reliance on oil and gas imports

Indonesia will now focus on the construction of oil and petrochemical refineries so that it can reduce the importation of oil and gas. Indonesia’s Chief Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said “Our fuel oil imports are very high. Therefore development of petrochemical refineries is an urgent need. This is because we do not want our fuel oil imports to increase all the time.” He added that a tax holiday facility would be given to petrochemical and oil refineries. The government will also improve domestic trade system, expand domestic market share, put domestic industries in order and control inflation by maintaining the people’s buying power. The minister also said that there is a need to watch out for the potential slowdown of China’s economy because it is one of Indonesia’s biggest export destinations. He also expressed optimism over this year’s exports, which could reach the US$200 billion target. “We are optimistic we will surpass the 2010 mark. We hope we can achieve the US$200 billion mark. If I am not mistaken the US$170 billion mark will be surpassed,” he said. China is the biggest export market of Indonesia and is valued at US$10.92 billion. Japan, worth US$10.44 billion is the second biggest export market, and the United States is the third, valued at US$9.26 billion. The ASEAN region is valued at US$19.35 billion and the European Union at US$12.33 billion. (September 7, 2011)