INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta, The contribution of non-oil and gas industry to Gross Domestic Product in the second quarter of 2017 reached 17.94 percent. This contribution is the largest compared to other sectors such as agriculture, forestry and fisheries 13.92 percent, construction 10.11 percent, and mining and quarrying 7.36 percent.

Minister of Industry, Airlangga Hartarto said, "We continue to focus on boosting the performance of non-oil and gas processing industry in order to remain a major driver of national economic growth. In addition, the responsibility for attracting investment and employment creation in the industrial sector is also on the shoulders of the Ministry of Industry.

"With the investment, the creation of new jobs, which will increase the purchasing power and consumption of the community.Therefore, the industry becomes a supporter of the target of economic growth," said Airlangga in Jakarta (14/08/2017).

According to him, to achieve these targets, one of the strategic steps in national industry priority policy is the development of natural resource-based industries through downstream. "The development includes downstream industries based on oil and gas and coal, downstream industry based on agro, and downstream industries based on metal mineral," said Airlangga.

Another policy is to improve the competitiveness and productivity of export-oriented labor-intensive industries. This sector covers the footwear industry, fish and seaweed processing industries, miscellaneous industries, wood and rattan furniture industries, and creative industries.

Based on the records of the Ministry of Industry, the non-oil and gas processing industry which experienced the highest growth in the second quarter of 2017 was achieved by the metal industry by 7.50 percent, the chemical, pharmaceutical and traditional medicine industries 7.38 percent and the food and beverage industry 7.19 percent . Meanwhile, the largest contribution to GDP formation in the non-oil and gas processing industry sector was provided by food and beverage industry branches by 34.42 percent, followed by metal goods industry, computers, electronic goods, optical and electrical equipment 10.38 percent, Transportation 9.95 percent.

Minister of Industry has also been actively encouraging the manufacturing industry to not only target the domestic market, but also must seize the opportunity share abroad. "We hope that people's purchasing power will increase, because the current industry volume is supported by the export market," Said Airlangga

In the first half of 2017, non-oil and gas processing industry exports reached USD 59.78 billion, up 10.05 percent compared to the same period in 2016 of USD 54.32 billion. Exports of non-oil and gas processing industry contributed 74.76 percent of the total national exports in the first half of 2017, which reached USD 79.96 billion.