JAKARTA (Xinhua): The Indonesian government plans to push its product diversification strategy as part of efforts to anticipate any economically negative impacts resulting from new tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, Minister of Trade Budi Santoso has announced.
"The issue is that Trump wants industries to move into the U.S., right? This means we need to diversify our products, especially those not produced there. We have discussed this matter with business actors, focusing on how to diversify products to maintain our trade surplus," Santoso told reporters in Jakarta.
However, he expressed confidence that the US protectionism policy would not have significant direct impacts on the Southeast Asian nation.
Indonesia is also set to reduce this year's budget allocation for infrastructure by more than half, a move that will significantly impact ongoing large-scale infrastructure projects across the country, according to Minister of Public Works Dody Hanggodo on Thursday.
The infrastructure budget, initially set at 110.95 trillion rupiahs (approximately 6.7 billion U.S. dollars), has been cut by 81.38 trillion rupiahs (around US$4.9 billion dollars).
"As a result, the remaining budget we have is 29.57 trillion rupiahs (about 1.8 billion dollars). At least 21 projects will be delayed, including dozens of connectivity projects such as road construction, water resources, and residential areas," Hanggodo said after a hearing with the Indonesian parliament in Jakarta.
Due to the budget cuts, Hanggodo noted that several infrastructure projects would not proceed this year. Two notable examples are the construction of a 7.36-km toll road and the routine maintenance of 47,603 kilometers of national roads.
"We have to cancel several infrastructure projects and focus only on priority initiatives," he added. - Xinhua
