Trade pact to hasten Indonesia's recovery, experts say

Indonesia's ratification of the world's biggest free-trade pact promises to help boost the economy's recovery from the pandemic and reinvigorate the process of industrialization, analysts say.

Indonesia's parliament passed a law on Aug 30 formalizing the nation's membership of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP. The 15-member trade pact covers nearly a third of the world's population and about 30 percent of its gross domestic product.

"By joining the RCEP, Indonesia can take advantage of the momentum to be more able to participate in global value chains because barriers (tariff and non-tariff) between RCEP members can be minimized," said Fajar Hirawan, head of the Department of Economics at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Jakarta.