Prabowo's Presidential Candidate Says RI Needs 540 Billion US Dollars To Downstream 21 Commodities

Prabowo Subianto. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

Presidential Candidate (Capres) Number 2 Prabowo Subianto said, one of the strategies to make Indonesia an industrial country is to carry out downstreaming.

Prabowo said, Indonesia needed an investment of around 540 billion US dollars for downstream activities of 21 commodities.

"We have mapped this, we need approximately USD 545 billion in investment for 21 commodities. If we look at it one by one, we have made these commodities for the industrial tree, where the added value will increase ten times," Prabowo said in the O2 Presidential Candidate Dialogue with Kadin which was monitored online, Friday, January 12.

Prabowo assessed that the basic key to making Indonesia an industrial country is to start from basic things, one of which is downstreaming.

"This Downstreaming is very important. So, we will continue Pak Jokowi's strategy, we already have maps and plans that we call industrial trees from 21 commodities, ranging from minerals, plant materials to marine materials. Instead, to build the basis of all," he said.

According to him, if downstream activities are carried out massively, Indonesia's chances of becoming an industrial country can be realized immediately and no longer depend on imports.

"For that, once again our strategy must be correct, our philosophy must be correct. We consider it to be sometimes cheaper for imports, but I agree we have to start from the basis and for that the key is downstreaming," he said.

Furthermore, Prabowo said, in the future Indonesia needs to increase its spending budget in the industrial sector. The reason is, the budget for spending in this sector is only around 17 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Meanwhile, he continued, other countries such as India and Turkey have allocated funds of around 20-28 percent for spending in the sector.

"Now our spending is 17 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), even though experts told me that countries that are building the industry are brave up to 20 percent, 25 percent, even 28 percent of GDP. For example, India if I'm not mistaken 28 percent, Turkey 28 percent. If we want to be the same as India and Turkey, it means we add 11 percent of our spending," he said.

"Thus, we may be able to break through to become an industrial country and must be independent in all important sectors, because we are a very large country," he added.