Apindo Encourages Government To Give Incentives To Business Sectors Affected By Efficiency

Chairman of the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) Shinta W Kamdani. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) encourages the government to provide incentives and stimulus for business sectors affected by efficiency policies.

Apindo Chairman Shinta W Kamdani assessed that the retail and tourism sector, including hotels, had felt the significant impact of its efficiency policy.

"These retail friends are very affected by efficiency. Tourism retailers, for example, we'll see that their occupancy has decreased," he told reporters in Jakarta, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, May 21.

However, Shinta understands that the government has a strong reason behind this efficiency decision.

Instead of asking for a policy repeal, Shinta said that Apindo was more focused on concrete solutions to help affected sectors.

"If that is indeed a decision that cannot be changed because the government's reason at that time is clear, then is there any assistance that can be given to this sector? Incentives, stimulus, we have previously policy packages. So how can we help?" he said.

On the same occasion, Chairman of the Federation of Tourism and Creative Economy Workers Unions Jumhur Hidayat said that he had received many complaints from hotel and restaurant employees, especially in Jakarta and Bali, regarding the decline in occupancy.

Therefore, he urged the government to find critical numbers or thresholds that allow efficiency to be carried out without causing mass layoffs or significant losses to the company.

"There must be a critical number where people don't need to be laid off, companies don't lose money, they can survive," said Jumhur.

Previously, the Association of Indonesian Shopping Center Retailers and Tenants (Hippindo) requested that the government revoke the budget efficiency policy to revive the wheels of the national economy.

Chairman of Hippindo Budihardjo Iduansjah, in Jakarta, last May 6, assessed that if this efficiency policy is revoked it will increase people's purchasing power to shop domestically.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded a slowdown in economic growth in the first quarter of 2025 to 4.87 percent on an annual basis. This figure is lower than growth in the same period the previous year which reached 5.11 percent.

One of the factors contributing to this slowdown is the contraction in government consumption by 1.38 percent. This contraction occurs in line with the government's spending efficiency policy which reduces the budget for official travel and office operational spending.