JAKARTA. The government will announce its 16th economic policy package in early August in a bid to excel investment, Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution has said.

“Hopefully the 16th package can be (released) three weeks from now. We hope it will bring a significant breakthrough to investment,” Darmin said during a hearing with the House of Representatives’ budget commission in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He declined to disclose details about the package, but has previously said that the 16th and 17th economic policy packages would be extensions of the 15th economic policy package, which aimed at improving logistics in the country.

Darmin said the 16th package addressed four main issues: enhancing the role of transportation insurance, reducing costs for logistic service providers, strengthening the Indonesia National Single Window (INSW) authority, and reducing the number of prohibited and restricted goods.

The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) has set a target to rake in Rp 678.8 trillion (US$ 50.9 billion) by year-end, or a 10.7% increase from what it achieved last year.

Indonesia has launched 15 economic packages to incentivize investors and simplify business regulations - all in a bid to attract more investors. However, businesspeople have repeated that changes are slow, and red tape and complex tax policies and practices continue to challenge businesses. (Stefani Ribka)

Editor: Dupla Kartini