The Minister Of Industry Is Optimistic That The Manufacturing Industry Will Remain Expansive, This Is The Reason

Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The performance of the non-oil and gas processing industry in the country is still maintained in a stable condition in the middle of the first quarter of 2023. This achievement can be seen from the results of the Indonesian Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) released by S&P Global, showing that it was in the 51.2 position last February or still in the expansion stage.

Indonesian manufacturing PMI in the second month was able to surpass the PMI of manufacturing Myanmar (51.1), Malaysia (48.4), Taiwan (49.0), Japan (47.7), England (49.2), the United States (47.8), the European Zone (48.5), France (47.9), and Germany (46.5).

"This expansion extension extends the period of improving the condition of the manufacturing industry sector for the past 18 months, even in the midst of the impact of global economic pressure. This means that the level of confidence of our manufacturing industry players is still quite high or optimistic," said Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita in Jakarta, quoted Thursday, March 2.

The Minister of Industry said that the ongoing impressive national manufacturing industry activity was also in accordance with the results of the Industrial Trust Index (IKI) in February 2023 released by the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin), reaching 52.32. This expansion level has increased significantly by 0.78 points compared to January 2023.

"I am sure that our manufacturing industry will remain expansionary as geopolitical conditions and the global economy gradually improve. In addition, it is supported by government policies in an effort to create a conducive business climate," he said.

Responding to the February 2023 manufacturing PMI report regarding the declining confidence in business, continued Minister of Industry Agus, the IKI survey in the same period also showed that there was an industry that was still pessimistic, but with a small amount or percentage.

"A total of 64.29 percent of business actors are optimistic about the industrial business conditions in the next six months. Along with that, the percentage of pessimism for business actors has decreased from 13.60 percent in January 2023 to 10.81 percent in February 2023. Meanwhile, 24.90 percent of business actors stated that their business conditions were stable for the next six months," he said.

Agus emphasized that his party is determined to continue to focus on encouraging domestic natural resource processing activities. This downstream industry step has proven to be able to have a broad impact on the national economy, such as increasing investment, absorbing labor, and exports.

"We will continue to pursue the Downstreaming and deepening of the manufacturing structure, because it is part of an effort to strengthen the supply chain. This will also spur the competitiveness of our industry," he said.

The government has emphasized that downstreaming will not only be carried out in the mineral and coal mining sector, but also in other sectors such as agriculture, plantations, and fisheries.

In addition, the Ministry of Industry is consistent in making it easier for industry players to get their raw materials, so productivity can run well. "Maintaining the availability of raw materials is one of the factors that causes confidence from our industry to increase," said Agus.

He added that his party also continues to spur the program to increase the use of domestic products (P3DN). This is because efforts to increase spending on domestic products are believed to have helped accelerate national economic growth.

"In 2022, around Rp762 trillion from the APBN, APBD and BUMN has been spent on domestic products. This is a very large value and is an opportunity or opportunity for industry players who have good quality products," concluded Agus.