No major impact of Jakarta bombings on industry

The terror attack in the business and office district in Central Jakarta on Thursday will not have any significant impact on the national industry.

"The bombing and shootout at the Sarinah Department Store and Starbucks coffee shop in Thamrin Boulevard will not significantly affect the development of industry at the national level. We regret the incident but hopefully it will not affect the national industry," Industry Minister Saleh Husin said on Friday.

However, he admitted that the bombings and shootouts would disturb trade circles to some extent but that would only be temporary in nature.

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industrys Jakarta Office (Kadin Jakarta) also admitted that it impacted business and economic activities in Jakarta, but did not have any widespread impact on economic activities at the national level.

"Psychologically, the terror attacks disturbed the market as reflected in the weakening of the rupiahs exchange rate against the US dollar. It almost reached Rp14,000 per US dollar," Kadin Jakarta Deputy Chairman Sarman Simanjorang said in a press statement on Friday.

Besides, he said, the stock market also went through a similar experience. The stock price index (IHSG) dropped by 1.12 points to 4,483.

"The bombing incident disturbed business and economic activities in Jakarta. Investors are sensitive to political and security conditions. It will have impact on the stock and money markets," noted Sarman.

In the trade sector, transactions of goods and services would also remain below par in the coming two to three days because consumers, for the time being, would be reluctant to visit shopping centers, restaurants, cafes and other entertainment places.

"Therefore, we, as businesspeople in Jakarta, strongly condemn the terror attacks as these have disturbed our peace and business activities in Jakarta," stated Sarman.

The Kadin Jakarta deputy chairman supported the firm action taken by the police, military and other security units that swiftly took control of the situation, thus ameliorating the publics fears and concerns.

He said the Kadin Jakarta also called on business players to continue their business activities as usual while those running shopping centers, malls, hotels, office buildings and others must continue enhanced security and maintain the required level of alertness. 

"We are confident that the government and its security officers are able to overcome and maintain the capital citys orderliness and arrest the perpetrators and their terrorist cells," the Kadin Jakarta deputy chairman said.

Therefore, the industrial business in the country will proceed normally.

On Thursday (Jan 14), two terrorists launched suicide attacks on a police station in Jalan Thamrin near the Sarinah Department Store, which was followed by a shootout between three other terrorists and the police at the Starbucks coffee shop adjacent to Sarinah.

Within hours, the police were able to thwart the attackers, killing three of them, while two others died in the suicide bombing. The incident also left two civilians dead and a number of police and other civilians injured.

According to Industry Minister Saleh Husin, national industry has been running as usual since Friday, a day after the barbaric terror attacks. There were no reports about the production processes being disturbed.

While accompanying President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to meet several producers, including Loreal cosmetics producer, Minister Saleh said the business players continued with their usual activities.

"We met businessmen and found there were no problems. We do not expect such an incident to take place again and must continue to work hard," said Saleh.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution had earlier said that monetary conditions will not be affected by the terror attacks. "No, these will not (be affected). The stock exchange is back to its normal functioning and there is no need to worry about the monetary conditions," he said.

Darmin said he hoped the incident would not be blown up excessively as it will only make the situation look fearful and hurt the countrys monetary performance. He further stated that it was normal for the market to react after an incident like this happened, but "it must not be blown out of proportion. It is alright for a certain reaction to be there but things return to normal by the next day."

The minister said he monitored the market until closing time on Thursday evening and saw no sign of any excessive reaction as far as the rupiahs exchange rate against the U.S. dollar was concerned.

In the meantime, the Capital Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) has also said that it was convinced that the terror attacks would not have much impact on investment. 

"Investors have said that security in Indonesia is under control," BKPM head Franky Sibarani said on Friday.

Sibarani noted that investors responded positively to the immediate measures taken by the government.

In a meeting with several potential investors in Shanghai, China, Sibarani remarked that investors were not worried about the Jakarta bombings because their investments were not centralized in Jakarta.

Furthermore, he has instructed eight representative offices abroad to coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and representatives of the Republic of Indonesia in a bid to communicate to potential investors about security conditions in Indonesia.

"The positive perception about the security climate in Indonesia is one of the factors that helps promote Indonesias investment competitiveness," he said

Source: ANTARA