Indonesia's competitiveness risks to be surpassed by Vietnam
Thursday, 15 July 2010
JAKARTA, July 14 (Xinhua): Indonesia's competitiveness risks to be surpassed by Vietnam if the government does not do anything to improve business climate, an official told Xinhua in an interview.
Djisman Simanjuntak, chief patron of Indonesia's Surveillance Committee on Regional Autonomy (KPPOD) and a senior economist, said that according to several economic indexes, Indonesia lags behind Vietnam although overall, Indonesia is still better.
"Our national income is still higher than Vietnam's, but our location competitiveness is already behind the country," he said.
He said that Vietnam gains benefits of several factors on politics, education, culture and geo-economy.
Besides, according to Djisman, education level in Vietnam is higher than in Indonesia.
"Even though according to economic measures, we are still in front, Vietnam jumps higher than us. If we manage to grow 5-6 per cent, Vietnam could reach 7-8 per cent," he said.
According to Djisman, there are several steps that could be taken by Indonesian government to improve its competitiveness.
"We must reduce sharply obstacles that trigger high cost economy," he said, referring to regulations that derail domestic and foreign investment, especially in local governments.
The committee's data shows that out of 3,735 regional regulations recommended by the Finance Ministry to be dropped in 2001-2009, there are 2,762 regulations that have not been followed up.
Besides, he said, Indonesia is faced by facts that infrastructure development could not be improved instantly, due to geographic and budget obstacles.
"That's why we have to choose several regions as our priorities, those that we call special economic zones," he said. He also recommended government to improve education and companies to allocate more budgets for training.
Djisman Simanjuntak, chief patron of Indonesia's Surveillance Committee on Regional Autonomy (KPPOD) and a senior economist, said that according to several economic indexes, Indonesia lags behind Vietnam although overall, Indonesia is still better.
"Our national income is still higher than Vietnam's, but our location competitiveness is already behind the country," he said.
He said that Vietnam gains benefits of several factors on politics, education, culture and geo-economy.
Besides, according to Djisman, education level in Vietnam is higher than in Indonesia.
"Even though according to economic measures, we are still in front, Vietnam jumps higher than us. If we manage to grow 5-6 per cent, Vietnam could reach 7-8 per cent," he said.
According to Djisman, there are several steps that could be taken by Indonesian government to improve its competitiveness.
"We must reduce sharply obstacles that trigger high cost economy," he said, referring to regulations that derail domestic and foreign investment, especially in local governments.
The committee's data shows that out of 3,735 regional regulations recommended by the Finance Ministry to be dropped in 2001-2009, there are 2,762 regulations that have not been followed up.
Besides, he said, Indonesia is faced by facts that infrastructure development could not be improved instantly, due to geographic and budget obstacles.
"That's why we have to choose several regions as our priorities, those that we call special economic zones," he said. He also recommended government to improve education and companies to allocate more budgets for training.