Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Former Vice President of Indonesia Jusuf Kalla (JK) expressed his strong criticism of the fuel subsidy policy that existed during the Joko Widodo (Jokowi) administration.
He has no problem with the subsidies, but according to him, subsidies should not be given continuously.
“From the government side and of course it affects the national economy, the government must have strong purchasing power. Therefore, the government should reduce the impact of unnecessary subsidies,” he said in the CNBC Indonesia Nation Hub session, quoted on Sunday (21/5/2023 ).
According to him, people can actually afford fuel, even without a subsidy policy. This also happened when he served as vice president in 2005, when at that time he increased fuel prices to 100%.
“My experience at that time was in 2005 increasing fuel prices until 100% of the people accepted it,” he said.
In addition, JK also alluded to the rising export value. But in fact it is not accompanied by good foreign exchange reserves either.
JK also said that the government’s downstream policy was correct. However, the record is that the impact has not been maximized for the people of Indonesia.
“Downstreaming will only have a good impact if it is carried out by national businesses. If everything is done by foreigners, then the impact will be small,” he said.
Jokowi’s current government policies must also be evaluated continuously.
The next government has no obligation to continue the current policy.
“Any future government must evaluate this. Don’t follow the current government’s policies,” he concluded.
(luc/luc)
2023-05-21 07:45:00
#Hard #Calls #Jokowis #Policy #Continue
