Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia’s manufacturing industryis facing two main obstacles in terms of limited cash and working capital flows amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, saidIndustry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita on May 20.
According to the minister, one of the solutions to thelimitations of capital flows is to facilitate credit restructuring. Meanwhile,working capital is needed to restart industrial activities, when the situationreturns to normal. As such, he said there should be efforts to encourageinvestment, in addition to promoting export markets.
The minister added that to solve these challenges, theMinistry of Industry alone cannot promote the recovery of manufacturingindustry, but needs coordination with other ministries and industries so thatthe industrial sector can recover quickly after the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
The Indonesian government is preparing a number of economicstimulus packages, including tax incentives, thus the industry must continue tooperate in the context of social distancing.
According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS),manufacturing is the largest contributor to Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product(GDP), accounting for 19.98 percent of the GDP in the first quarter of 2020.However, the industry grew only 2.06 percent during the period, lower than its3.85-percent growth recorded in the same quarter last year./.
VNA