REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, WASHINGTON -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said sustainable structural reform would enable Indonesia to maintain its economic growth.

"Structural reform is important to improve the quality of investment climate," Deputy Director of Asia and Pacific Department of IMF Kenneth Kang said in a news conference here on Friday.

Kang said the structural reform would encourage investors to do business in Indonesia increasing the contribution of investment to the country's economic growth.

Among the forms of structural reform is deregulation and revision of complicated policies to encourage investment and create new jobs, he said.

"This could also be supported by improving the quality of education and health and improvement of regulations on labor," he said.

However, in short term effort is needed to maintain economic stability to keep the market confidence and the public sentiment.

Kang said Indonesia also needs tax reform which has not been optimally implemented to back up development program.

"Fiscal reform is necessary to increase tax revenues as Indonesia's tax ratio is still low compared with its neighboring countries," he said, adding tax revenues have to be increased to accommodate the government's ambitious agenda.

Indonesia's economic growth is estimated to reach 5.2 percent in 2017, up from 5 percent in 2016 driven by growing exports and expansive fiscal spending. 

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