Holiday Ayo - The government does not want to be careless with Indonesia's new status as an upper middle income country (middle income country). For this reason, the Minister of Investment/Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia said downstreaming is a way for Indonesia to get out of the trap of middle-income countries.

As cited from Republika.id, according to Bahlil Lahadalia, downstream benefits are great to be able to boost the economy from existing resources.

"There is no other way for Indonesia to get out of middle income. The only way is for us to build downstream. It is enough that we sell our country," Bahlil said in a webinar entitled "Prospects of Indonesia's Economic Recovery Amid Post-Pandemic Geopolitical Changes", Wednesday (3/8).

Bahlil recalled that when he was just appointed as Head of BKPM in 2019, he was ordered by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to stop exports of nickel ore. He was demoted by entrepreneurs up to 1.5 months later.

However, it turned out that the policy to stop nickel ore exports was bearing fruit because currently the downstream industry using nickel as raw material is now able to boost export performance to provide positive added value to the country.

Nickel downstream is also projected to make Indonesia one of the biggest players in the battery industry. cells for electric vehicles.

"We have built the EV (electric vehicle) ecosystem and the cell battery in Indonesia now," said Bahlil.

Currently, Indonesia has succeeded in attracting investment in the development of global electric vehicle batteries, from LG (South Korea), CATL (China), Foxconn (Taiwan), to VW and BASF (Germany). Bahlil said that this year the government will also arrange exports of raw bauxite and tin.

The government wants to build a downstream industry for the two minerals in the country so that the added value can be absorbed domestically.

"It is no longer allowed to export raw (bauxite) and tin. Our tin is the second largest in the world, number one in China. But China has 80 percent of the downstream construction in its country. Indonesia only builds 5 percent of the downstream. We are the largest tin exporter in the world, the price of tin is played by other countries. Is it crazy?" said Bahlil.

He hopes that all efforts made by the government in encouraging the downstream industry will be able to support the welfare of the people as the investment objective.