JAKARTA. The growing political tensions ahead of the concurrent local elections, as well as the continuous disputes among political elites have led to anxiety among the entrepreneurs.
The anxiety reflects on the decline in business tendency index, which was formulated by the National Statistic Agency and Bank Indonesia (the Central Bank). The business tendency index dropped from 106.7 in the quarter IV-2016 to 105.81 in the quarter I-2017.
In general, the entrepreneurs are still expecting for the potentials of business growth in the first quarter of this year, on the grounds that the tendency index of above 100 indicates the potentials of business growth in the next months. “The businessmen expect that the export and domestic economy will rise,” said Head of BPS Suhariyanto.
The Chairman of Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Hariyadi Sukamdani said that the anxiety among the businessmen was triggered by the growing political tensions ahead of the local elections. “After the elections, the business participants will have clearer and more credible tendencies,” Hariyadi told KONTAN, Monday (6/2).
The local elections have created the negative perspectives, as every day public are witnessing the political races and opinion wars. Therefore, “The businessmen preferred to adopt wait and see stance,” said herbs entrepreneur Charles Saerang.
Vice Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Retail Merchants (Aprindo) Tutum Ruhanta worries that the continuous political disputes may interrupt the macro economic conditions, which have started improving. “We try to be optimistic that this difficult period will come to an end,” Tutum said.
As information, Indonesia’s economy has started improving. The economic growth has increased from 4.88% in 2015 to 5.02% in 2016.
Governor of BI Agus Martowardojo said, the economy was supposed to grow higher if the government would have been more aggressive in disbursing the government expenditures during the quarter IV-2016.
Unfortunately, “The (economic) growth in the quarter IV-2016 was only 4.97%, due to the interrupted government expenditures following the budget cuts,” he said.
BI predicts that the economic growth in this year may be ranging at 5%-5.4% if the political situation is stable, the local elections run safely, and the government is more aggressive in allocating expenditures, and the public’s purchasing power is solid.
(Muhammad Farid/Translator)
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