President Joko Widodo Urges to Improve 10 Aspects of Ease of Doing Business

The President led Limited Meeting on Ease of Doing Business at the Presidential Office, Jakarta (20/1) (Picture: Public Relations Office/Jay)

President Joko Widodo instructed to make a thorough improvement in providing ease of doing business to businesspeople in Indonesia. The aspects that must be improved are: (1) business start-up; (2) licensing; (3) property registration; (4) electricity; (5) tax payment; (6) cross country trading; (7) access to credit; (8) protection for minority investors; (9) contract enforcement; and (10) bankruptcy settlement.

 “Now, Indonesia stands at rank 109 of 189 countries, up 11 ranks since 2015. However, this improvement is not significant enough to be able to chase other ASEAN countries with higher ranks, such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand,” the President said in his introductory remarks at a Limited Meeting at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, on Wednesday (20/1) afternoon.

According to the President, Singapore is at the first rank, whereas Malaysia stands at rank 18 and Thailand at rank 49. “I want Indonesia’s rank to be at under 40,” the President asserted.

Therefore, it needs breakthroughs and courage from the executors on the field, be it in the regions, State-Owned Enterprises, or ministries in improveing those aspects.

“Our purpose is not only to improve the rank on ease of doing business’ survey, but also we must focus on real improvements, so the businesspeople as well as investors can feel the impact,” the President said.

Regular Evaluation

On that occasion, the President stated that he will regularly evaluate the improvement measures that are conducted in order to improve the ease of doing business.

 “I will evaluate every week, every month, every three or six months. If our progress is still slow, I will tell you. I will tell the truth,” the President said.

The Limited Meeting was attended by Coordinating Minister for the Economy Darmin Nasution, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Puan Maharani, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Resources Rizal Ramli, Minister of State Secretary Pratikno, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Minister of Trade Thomas Lembong, Minister of National Development Planning/Head of National Development Planning Agency Sofyan Djalil, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said, Minsiter of Public Works and Public Housing Basuki Hadimuljono, Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly, Minister of Agrarian and Spatial Planning/Head of National Land Agency Ferry M. Baldan, and Head of Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Franky Sibarani. (DND/UN/ES)(MMB/YM/Naster)