Indonesian Nickel Tackled WTO, Deputy Minister Of Finance Suahasil Ogah Disgusted: We Go On!

Deputy Minister of Finance Suahasil Nazara (Photo: Capture Youtube Katadata screen)

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Finance (Wamenkeu) Suahasil Nazara ensured that the government will continue the program of downstreaming natural resources in order to generate added value for the national economy.

According to him, this attitude has become the mindset and basis for government policies in making subsequent decisions. Suahasil emphasized this when alluding to Indonesia's defeat in the WTO trial regarding the policy of prohibiting nickel exports.

"Yes (yesterday we lost at the WTO) but we have to keep going downstream. The WTO issue will later be handled by negotiators who will work hard to show it to the international community (Indonesian position)," he said at the 2023 Economic Outlook forum, Tuesday 29 November.

Suahasil explained that the government was very serious in the further processing program of natural resources before being exported abroad. In fact, Sri Mulyani's representative revealed that currently a stimulus mapping is being carried out so that business actors can work together to make the downstream agenda a success.

The entrepreneur must have asked whether there was tax relief, tax incentives, relaxation of imports. We will see all of this and many will be given by the government. If the end (business activity) is downstream, then we will definitely give it," he said.

Suahasil added that this strategy was carried out in order to spur new sources of economic growth which are expected to accelerate Indonesia to realize its ideals as a developed country.

"All fiscal tools will still be encouraged to support downstreaming," he stressed.

For information, Indonesia lost in a lawsuit at the WTO over the policy of banning exports of raw nickel because it chose to process it first before selling it to foreign markets.

Based on a report by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the total export of nickel throughout 2021 is worth USD 2.44 billion with a volume of 75.5 million kg. Of this figure, the majority were absorbed by the Singapore market, which was USD 509 million with a volume of 14.98 million kg.