M Julnis Firmansyah, Jakarta – President Joko Widodo or Jokowi has instructed to stop the export of bauxite in raw forms. The president said that from an economic point of view, exporting raw materials would not add value.

"We have stopped nickel [exports] in 2020. This year, we will stop bauxite. Bauxite will become alumina [first]," the President said during the Armed Forces and the National Police's leaders' meeting on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

After stopping raw bauxite exports, he said, by next year it will be copper's turn.

Jokowi said that 56 to 58 percent of Indonesia's economy relies on the consumption sector. Therefore, his government will make economic reforms by downstreaming the industry.

The president said that since the VOC era 400 years ago, Indonesia has been sending raw materials, even today. "We have to stop it. Stop it. We get nothing," he said.

Stopping raw material exports, Joko Widodo said, will increase the commodities' exports value and create jobs in Indonesia. The state will also obtain additional tax revenues from the processing of these raw materials.

"If we don't have the courage to try that, we will continue to export raw commodities and we will get nothing," Jokowi said.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1565995/jokowi-wants-indonesia-to-stop-bauxite-exports-this-yea