Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita told reporters Thursday night the government was considering ending mandatory use of a surveyor for inspecting shipments of coal, palm oil and crude oil, to simplify export procedures.
"The point is, if (the goods) have been checked once, either by the customs office or abroad, why do we need two surveyor reports?" Lukita told reporters.
On Friday, central bank governor Perry Warjiyo endorsed government plans to remove survey procedures, saying this would support exports in the short-term.
Oke Nurwan, director general of foreign trade at the trade ministry, said the government has not decided which goods would be exempted from surveyor checks, as shipments of a number of commodities, including tin, have to follow international rules.
Predicting Indonesia would have another trade deficit this year, the office of the coordinating minister of economic affairs said in a statement on Thursday night the government would issue new measures to support export competitiveness.
The possibility of scrapping use of surveyors was the only concrete one mentioned by officials, though the statement also said the government would also seek to reduce customs procedures to shorten dwelling time at ports.
Indonesia had a $8.57 billion trade gap last year, the largest the country ever had, partly because exports sank towards the end of the year, while imports remained persistently high despite efforts to curb them.
The 2018 deficit was also the first in four years. In 2017, the resource-reliant country posted an $11.84 billion surplus.
(Reporting by Maikel Jefriando;Writing by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Richard Borsuk)
