Seminar Comparative on Ease of Doing Business

On Thursday, April 22, 2018, the Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Brawijaya in cooperation with the Fiscal Policy Office of the Ministry of Finance held a seminar entitled “Comparative Study on Ease of Doing Business”. This seminar aims to serve as a space for discussion and learning in comparing policy measures taken by other countries in improving the investment climate in their country with policies that have been implemented in Indonesia in the ease of business. The seminar that took place in the Hall Room of Building F Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Brawijaya was attended by Malang City Government, Fiscal Policy Agency and Student FEB UB.

Exactly at 09.00 am, the seminar was opened by a speech from the Chairman of the Department of Economics, Dr.rer.pol Wildan Syafitri, SE., ME. According to him, from the competitive side of Indonesia is still in a good position. But when viewed from the side of creativity, Indonesia is still very weak. This can be seen from the export activities undertaken by Indonesia is still in the form of primary goods and assemblies which design is not derived from Indonesia. But this aspect of creativity can be encouraged through ease of effort. Then the second speech was delivered by the Head of Regional and Bilateral Policy Center, Fiscal Policy Office, Ministry of Finance, Irfa Ampri, SE., Ak., Ph.D. In his speech he said that the ease of trying to become an attractive incentive for investors to invest in Indonesia.

The seminar is divided into two sessions. The first session raised the topic of “Improving Business and Investment Climate Policy” which was guided by Lecturer of Faculty of Economics and Business, Al Muizzuddin Fazaalloh, SE., ME. The first session was filled with material presented by Aufa Doarest from the World Bank, Haryo Yudho Sadewo from BKPM and Dwi Budi Santoso, Ph.D. who is a lecturer of Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Brawijaya.

In his presentation, Aufa Doarest discussed issues related to foreign and domestic investment, business licensing and labor productivity. He said that Indonesia is much better in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings. In 2014 Indonesia is ranked 120. But now Indonesia is ranked 70, which is a fairly large growth. Aufa Dorest added that the greatest growth occurred in licensing, and a rather heavy contract occurred. Then the second speaker, Haryono Yudho Sadewo discussed from the perspective of the government to improve the investment climate of Indonesia. Indonesia is said to be the country of SSR (Safe, Stable, Reformist) by various rating agencies in the world and still ranks 5 as an investment destination country. Currently the Indonesian government is focusing on the infrastructure sector, besides Indonesia also has 2 other investment sector focus, namely tourism and creative economy. Haryono said that in protecting local players from the dominance of foreign investors, the government set a negative list on some sectors, such as Tourism sector, Film industry, Transportation, E-Commerce, etc. so more domestic players in the sector than foreign players. The third speaker, Dwi Budi Santoso, Ph.D. discusses the importance of EoDB for developing countries, especially Indonesia. Dwi Budi said that EoDB can compute transaction costs and production costs so as to increase market share. “Doing Business must be done especially on the contract, this is a more extream macro condition, if the micro is not repaired then the condition is also more severe” he concluded.

In the second session, the seminar raised the topic “Best Practices on Ease of Doing Business Improvement” hosted by Eko Nugroho Mardi Saputro, Ph.D. of the Fiscal Policy Office. The second session was filled with material presented by Putu Mahardika Adi Saputra, Ph.D., lecturer from the Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Brawijaya, Paul Bartlet namely Lead Adviser AIPEG / PROSPERA, and Truong Xuang Trung First Secretary Embassy of Socialist Republic of Vietnam .

In his presentation, Putu Mahardika discusses what lessons Indonesia can learn from other countries in ease of doing business based on previous studies. Then Paul Bertlet discusses what Indonesia can learn from other countries based on AIPEG / PROSPERA’s support of the Indonesian government, and the last speaker, Truong Xuang Trung discusses the lessons Indonesia can take from Vietnam on improving the investment climate.