Economists Support The Ministry Of Trade's Plan To Form An Illegal Import Task Force

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Jember University economist Adhitya Wardhono supports the government's plan through the Ministry of Trade which forms an Illegal Import Task Force (Satgas).

"The Illegal Import Task Force formed by the Ministry of Trade shows that economically it is the government's anticipation of the possibility of a sloping economic conjunction and a weakening domestic production sector," he said in Jember Regency, East Java, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, July 17.

According to him, this cannot be separated from the fact that the economic alarm in Indonesia has already sound, in which there are signs of deindustrialization that may occur sooner.

"If the anticipation is too late, it will trigger Indonesia's economic growth which is less than optimal, aka stagnant in the range of five percent," said the lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) Unej.

He said several leading commodities in the Indonesian industrial manufacturing sector such as footwear, finished clothes, electronics, beauty products are Indonesia's leading products so far.

"By increasing similar products from abroad illegally and even trading at lower prices, it has collapsed the balance of the manufacturing industry market and has even become unhealthy," he said.

Domestic industrial ecosystems are disrupted and even damaged, even though the manufacturing industry sector is also haunted by many disruptive factors, for example, changes in consumer behavior so quickly.

Adhitya explained that illegal imports will reduce the potential for taxes that can be obtained by the state, especially after COVID-19, in fact the national manufacturing industry sector has not had a chance to make perfect improvements.

"If illegal imports continue to occur, it will further reduce the performance of Indonesia's manufacturing industry and weaken the competitiveness of domestically made similar products, and disrupt the trade balance," he said.

He said that illegal imports occurred due to the lax entry of Indonesia and usually occur in small ports with minimal supervision, but the increase in internal supervision and firm action of officers who play into supporting illegal imports must also be carried out by the relevant ministries.

"The Illegal Import Task Force will have to work hard, considering that the domestic industrial sector must grow in a competitive ecosystem and in a healthy business competition corridor with the realization of commercial order in the field of imports," he said.

In addition, he continued, the government must immediately improve, especially the existing import permit rules so far, whether it is adequate or needs to be revised in the midst of soaring demand and also technical regulations that implement it must be able to provide legal certainty for business actors.