IMF DIRECTOR VISITS TANAH ABANG TEXTILE MARKET

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, March 2 (Antara) - IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) visited Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, last week, to observe economic activities and development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast Asia's largest textile market.     President Jokowi took Lagarde to Tanah Abang to witness first-hand the development of SMEs in Indonesia. The IMF managing director visited Tanah Abang on the sidelines of her week-long visit to review the preparations for holding the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Bali in October 2018.         With over 19 thousand stalls and 75 thousand shoppers per day, Tanah Abang is the largest textile and garment center in Southeast Asia. Shoppers will find a vast array of items in textile blocks, including kids and adult fashion products, Muslim wear, jeans, underwear, batik items, bags and footwear, special upscale boutiques, and several others at an attractive wholesale price.         Tanah Abang Market has a long-standing history and was firstly developed by a property owner Justin Vinck on August 30, 1735. At first, the Tanah Abang Market remained open only every Saturday and was called the Saturday Market. However, by the time, Tanah Abang, or popularly known as Pasar Tanah Abang, was able to compete with Pasar Senen, another traditional market that is older and more popular at that time.