Batam economic growth corrected with 7.1%

The increasing of labor cost and transportation tariff following the increasing of fuel price would decrease the competitiveness of Batam as Free Trade Zone. Assistant of Economic and Development of Batam, Syamsul Bahrum, said that the increasing of labor cost will influence the production process, the price, and the competitiveness in the world market. Furthermore, Batam also has electricity crisis problem because PLN has decreased their electricity supply to Batam. (Bisnis Indonesia, Tue May 27, p. R1)