RI'S NON-OIL/NON-GAS EXPORT GROWTH TARGET TO BE REVISED

Jakarta, Feb 7 (ANTARA) - The Trade Ministry is to revise the country's non-oil/non-gas export growth target for 2009 now that the national economic growth target for the year has been lowered from 5.0 percent to 4.7 percent.

Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu confirmed here on Friday that the non-oil/non-gas export growth target would be reevaluated following pessimistic predictions by various countries and international institutions.
"Just wait. Later I will give the answer. What is certain is that we will reevaluate it," she said on Thursday.
The World Bank as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier predicted a decline in the volume of world trade, which would be the first since 1982.
Indonesia's finance minister Sri Mulyani said in a meeting with House Commission XI on Thursday that the country's export growth could drop to between 0,0 and 5.0 percent with predictions at 2.5 percent or even one percent.
The trade minister admitted that the export growth, inititally predicted at between 4.3 and 8.0 percent, would be revised to a pessimistic level of 4.3 percent. "It is still being processed and is not yet final," she said.
Meanwhile the trade ministry's head of research and development, Muchtar, said his ministry's non-oil and gas export growth figures would not be the same as those of the finance minister because the export performance of each commodity was different.
"If the finance minister's prediction is based on the Gross Domestic Product we can calculate it. In general the finance minister predicts exports to grow 2.5 percent or minimally one percent. However to predict non-oil and gas export growth one has to see the commodities concerned first," he said.
He said the government predicted overall export growth covering both oil and gas as well as non-oil and gas in the context of GDP while the trade ministry upon value and volume in the context of balance of payment.
"Well, the figures are not different much. Hopefully they are not worse than the predictions. In the context of balance of payment we see the margin between exports and imports. So far it remains positive," he said.
Muchtar said his office was currently focussing on efforts to make exports to continue to grow and the balance of payment remain positive. He said he still saw a hope of growth from exports to emerging markets.