Gov’t elements should purchase domestic products: Jokowi

Jakarta (ANTARA) – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) expressed dissatisfaction over imported products still dominating the central government spending despite the fact that 842 products can be substituted by domestic products on the e-catalog.
“I know many ministries, institutions, and regional governments do not want to buy domestic products for various reasons. However, there are 842 domestic products in the e-catalog that can be purchased,” Jokowi noted at the opening of the 2022 Government’s National Coordination Meeting for Internal Supervision at the State Palace, Tuesday.
The head of state emphasized that the central and regional government spending must take into account three important aspects: creating added value, generating domestic economic growth, and ensuring efficiency.
The government budget, both in the state budget and regional budgets, which had been collected from tax payments and Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP), should be allocated to purchase domestic products that generate added value and boost economic growth, Jokowi stated.
“Why we purchase imported products with the state budget? The (benefits in the form of) added value and job creation go directly to foreign countries,” he pointed out.
Hence, the president urged the Government Internal Supervisory Apparatus (APIP) and the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) to continue to oversee the purchase of domestic products by central and regional government spending.
Meanwhile, Head of BPKP Muhammad Yusuf Ateh explained that until the first quarter of 2022, imported products still dominated the e-catalogs.
However, the condition gradually improved after Jokowi issued Presidential Instruction Number 2 of 2022 on Acceleration of Domestic Products and Micro, Small Business, and Cooperatives Product Use Intensification to support and ensure the success of the Proud of Indonesian Products National Movement (Gernas BBI) in the implementation of the Government’s Goods and Services Procurement.
“In the third week of May 2022, local products had dominated the national e-catalog, although transactions for imported products were still higher,” Ateh remarked.