Govt to cut high-cost economy by slashing red tape

JAKARTA (Antara): Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie promised on Thursday to cut the nation's high-cost economy by reining in the country's corrupt bureaucracy but was vague on the details.

"New incentives to the business circle should not always in the form of fiscal motivations, but also 'de-bureaucratization' to help cut the high-cost economy," Aburizal said without elaborating further.

He admitted that the government's desire to cut costs would take time.

"Anything which has lasted dozens of years cannot be corrected in one or two weeks ... but we are very serious in our plan as a high-cost economy has eroded our competitive edge. All businesspeople long for speedier processes than the existing ones," he said. (**)

Jakarta Post, 20 October 2005