Posts Tagged ‘cigarette’
Foreign Cigarette Industry, suction Poor Money
Researcher Demographic Institute Faculty of Economics University of Indonesia Abdillah Ahsan in Jakarta, said the investment British American Tobacco (BAT) on the tobacco industry resulted in the displacement Bentoel poor money into foreign investors increased. “As many as 12 million poor households in Indonesia is a consumer of cigarettes, while the company Bentoel 85 percent foreign-owned shares, plus 97 percent of previously purchased shares of Sampoerna by Philip Morris,” said Abdillah. According to him, each month the allocation of money for poor households to smoking amounted to Rp.117.000, which means more funds than direct cash assistance (BLT), which only amounted to Rp.100.000. Thus, he said, poor households tend to consume cigarettes sacrificing basic needs of the household.
The low production of cigarettes by the government’s control, Abdillah said, resulted in foreign investment enter freely into Indonesia. ”Indonesian tobacco industry bought at a price above the market, but BAT has predicted an increase in sales,” he said. In addition, low wage workers and tobacco farmers in Indonesia to foreign investors the opportunity to gain greater profits. ”The wages of workers in Indonesia about Rp.96.000 per month and pay tobacco farmers Rp.413.000 per month,” said Abdillah.
