REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KUPANG -- Economist from Widaya Mandira University, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Dr Thomas Ola Langoday hopes four of the eight policies issued by President Joko Widodo will revive and stabilize the national economy.

"I hope the policy package can recover the current account deficit so that the exchange rate of the Rupiah against the US dollar will recover," he said here Monday.

According to him, the President's economic policies have four crucial points to overcome crises in the national economy.

The first policy relates to a visa-free regulation for four countries, namely China, South Korea, Russia, and Japan.

The second one mentions tax incentives for exports and companies spending their dividends on re-investments.

Under the third policy, the Ministry of Finance will issue a regulation on anti-dumping import duty tariffs and safeguard tariffs for dumping-indicated imported products.

The fourth policy will see the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources introduce a regulation to increase the use of biofuel as a mixture for diesel oil from 15 percent to 20 percent.

Langoday noted that these policies will help the national economy overcome problems if political issues are also managed at the same as they also impact economic conditions.

At the weekend trading closure, based on the exchange rate of Bank Indonesia (BI), the rupiah reached Rp13.191 per US dollar. This scenario had occurred in early August 1998 when the rupiah rate was in the range of Rp13,000 per dollar.

"A weakening rupiah widens the social and economic gap as prices for staple products become higher. Hence, prompt and appropriate policies are needed to restore the market's trust," Langoday observed.

In addition to these measures, Bank Indonesia must also alert foreign exchange market speculators, he stressed.

"We hope Bank Indonesia can stabilize the rupiah," he added. 

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