Nickel Export Ban Has Benefited Indonesia: Jokowi

TheIndonesia.id - President Joko Widodo recently said that the decision to ban the export of raw materials has benefited Indonesia, and the government plans to implement the policy on various mining products.

The President said after first imposing the export ban on nickel ore, the government aims to also enforce similar policy on bauxite, copper, and tin.

“Our courage to stop [raw material export] has shown result. Therefore, we’ll also stop the export of bauxite, copper, tin, and others,” Widodo said in Jakarta on Monday, January 3, as reported by Antara.

According the President, Indonesia’s trade balance has been enjoying profit in the last 19 months. As reported by Central Statistics Bureau (BPS), from January to November 2021, Indonesia recorded US$34 billion surplus, 19 consecutive months since May 2020.

The country also saw an increase in export value by 49.7 percent year-on-year in November 2021, as well as import value which also increased by 52.6 percent.

Widodo said the export ban on raw material contributed greatly to the positive trend. And in the future, the government will put more focus on industry downstreaming which is expected to further increase Indonesia’s export value and support national economy on a global scale.

“Indonesia also moved up three spots in a competitiveness ranking. Even in a very difficult 2021, we managed to achieve it,” the former mayor of Jakarta said,

The ban on nickel ore export first took effect in January 2020 as mandated in Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation No. 11/2019.

The move resulted in a great deal of consequences. For example, since ban, the European Union (EU) has filed a lawsuit against Indonesia, which is the world’s largest nickel producer with 800,000 metric tons (MT) mine production in 2021.

However, back in November, President Widodo reiterated that Indonesia will not budge and is ready to face the lawsuit filed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other challenges resulted from the export ban.

“We shouldn’t be dragged over to the WTO just because we stop sending raw material. We will fight it, no matter what,” he said.