INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta, the Ministry of Industry is focusing on boosting domestic industry performance in order to grow positively throughout 2017. Moreover, the contribution of the manufacturing sector to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2017 is 17.94 percent or the highest compared to other sectors.

"Given the important role of the industrial sector in contributing to the national economy, it is necessary to support policies to accelerate its growth," said Minister of Industry, Airlangga Hartarto in Jakarta, Tuesday (15/08/2017).

He added that the strategic steps required by the industry today include assuring the availability of raw materials as well as competitive energy prices such as gas and electricity, as well as the smooth flow of logistics.

"Optimism for the improvement of national industry performance is driven by several sectors that have industrial growth above seven percent, namely basic metal industry by 7.5 percent, pharmaceutical and traditional medicine industries 7.38 percent, and food and beverage industry 7, 19 percent, "he explained.

Furthermore, in terms of exports, the contribution of the manufacturing industry in the second quarter / 2017 showed a fairly good performance of about USD59, 7 billion or an increase of 10 percent compared to the same period in 2016 of USD54, 3 billion.

In fact, referring to data Nikkei Purchasing Manager Index (PMI), the average PMI in the quarter I / 2017 is 50.06, while in the second quarter-2017 increased to 50.4. This index above 50 indicates an expansion range, which means that manufacturing performance on average is better.

Meanwhile, based on data from United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in the assessment of manufacturing value added, also recorded Indonesia made the world top 10, past the achievements of Mexico and Spain, even above the UK and Russia. This year, Indonesia is projected to occupy the 9th position in the world.

"The momentum of these achievements must be maintained well so that synergy with stakeholders to realize the performance of national industry can still grow and increase in the next period," said Airlangga.

The current Ministry of Industry's current priority policy is the development of natural resource-based industries through downstream, increasing the competitiveness and productivity of export-oriented labor-intensive industries, and spurring the competence of industrial human resources.