REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesian government encourages its citizens to use domestic products in order to boost the competitiveness prior to Asean Economic Community (AEC) 2015. Secretary General at the Ministry of Industry, Anshari Bukhari, hopes to expand the regulation of goods and service procurement.
He said that government had a lot of homework to encourage people to use domestic products. He mentioned that Malaysia had implemented a campaign 'buy Malaysian' since 2010.
Government spending can also be a tool to boost the competitiveness of local products. Apart from that, government gives 15 percent preverency for the industry using more than 50 percent of domestic components.
He said that government must carefully watch the future of national industry as it will face challenges towards imported products after the implementation of free trade agreement (FTA). He also reminded that Indonesia suffered trade deficit in 2011 with several countries, particularly Japan, China, Thailand and South Korea.
