Jakarta –
The Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia said Indonesia had no debts to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Bahlil said that Indonesia’s debt to the IMF had already been repaid by the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). Bahlil then thanked SBY.
“We have to thank the government before Pak Jokowi, namely during Pak SBY’s era. It managed to settle our debt to the IMF,” said Bahlil, in a press conference at the BKPM Office, Jakarta, Friday (30/6) yesterday.
According to Bahlil, being indebted to the IMF is the same as being indebted to loan sharks. He considered that many economic policy packages were not in accordance with Indonesia. “According to their study, they also say that this is like loan-sharking. So there are many economic policy packages from the IMF that are not suitable for our country,” he said.
In addition, Indonesia also has a long history with the IMF. Bahlil also said that when the monetary crisis hit in 1998, the IMF recommended a number of policies that had a huge impact on the slowdown in Indonesia’s economic growth.
“First, our industry is closed. For example aerospace. Social assistance is closed. This means that people’s purchasing power is weak there. The forerunners of deindustrialization,” he said.
But in fact, all these policies failed miserably. As a result, interest rates on credit also rose. Then, almost all businesses collapsed. Credits were bad and assets were taken. This condition makes Indonesia appear to be a misdiagnosed patient.
“What happened? Our country is slowing down towards economic growth. In the same year, Malaysia rejected the IMF’s recommendation,” he added.
As if to remind Bahlil of that old story, now the IMF has just stated a request that Indonesia not extend its downstream policy by banning the export of raw mineral materials. In this case, Bahlil clearly refused the request.
“He has made us patients who have failed to diagnose. Are we going to follow the doctor who has taken us to the inpatient room, he puts us in the ICU room? Like a sick person, he shouldn’t have a total operation, then the total operation continues to fail,” he said.
On the other hand, the IMF itself has also stated that Indonesia’s economic condition is in good condition. Therefore, the demand regarding exports is a big question mark. He also suspected that the IMF was carrying out a double standard considering that other countries were allowed to do the same thing, while only Indonesia was not allowed to do this.
In line with this, Bahlil also emphasized that he would not follow the request made by the IMF to stop exports of other mineral raw materials.
“Even if the sky is about to fall, downstream will still be a priority for the country in the administration of Joko Widodo and Kiyai Ma’ruf Amin. Second, we will still enforce the export ban. If you want to sue us to the WTO, just WTO. Can other people (stop exports) ), we don’t? The truth is, this country is already independent,” he said.
(fdl/fdl)
2023-07-01 03:30:55
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