Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Investment/Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) said the policy of processing raw materials into high added value products (downstreaming) will be one of the priority programs for the next government.

"This has been planned since the time of President Jokowi and God willing, later the President-elect, Mr Prabowo, will become one of the priorities, downstreaming this," said Deputy for Investment Climate Development at the Ministry of Investment/BKPM Riyatno at the Investortrust Future Forum in Jakarta, Wednesday.

He said the next government's commitment to advancing downstreaming in the country was because this regulation had provided many benefits for the Indonesian economy.

For example, processing in the nickel sector provides added value of 11.4 times when processed into nickel sulfate, increases again 19.4 times when sold as a precursor, and increases up to 67.7 times when sold in the form of vehicle battery cells. electric (electric vehicle/EV).

Apart from that, Riyatno said that in order to maintain the downstream ecosystem in a sustainable manner, according to him, the Ministry of Investment has implemented several things, such as issuing supporting regulations, tax incentives, encouraging financial sector policies, as well as regulations prohibiting the export of raw materials for nickel, bauxite, copper and tin.

"One of the tax incentives handled through the Ministry of Investment/BKPM is tax holidays and also tax allowances. Then there are also financial sector policies, namely the OJK issuing policies in the banking industry to support the acceleration program for battery-based electric motorized vehicles, for example," he said.

Previously, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, entrusted the continuity of industrial downstreaming to the development project for the Indonesian Capital City (IKN) to Prabowo Subianto after becoming President of the Republic of Indonesia for the period 2024 - 2029.

President Jokowi emphasized that the sustainability of people's programs, whether it is the sustainability of infrastructure development or human resources (HR), is very important.

(SOURCE)