JAKARTA (April 30): Indonesia has revised a wide-ranging trade ministry regulation to remove import restrictions on a number of affected items, including many raw materials used by industries, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan said on Tuesday.

Southeast Asia's biggest economy issued a regulation late last year to tighten monitoring for more than 3,000 imported goods, from food ingredients to electronics to chemicals.

Business groups had said the measure also restricted their access to materials needed by domestic industry.

"Lubricant raw materials, wheat flour raw materials, and other industrial raw materials are no longer restricted," Zulkifli said.

Zulkifli said the restriction was intended to protect the local market from an influx of imported goods; however, he acknowledged it was causing some congestion for businesses.

The revised regulation would also put import supervision within custom areas, rather than the post-border supervision that was previously allowed, Zulkifli added.

The regulation, details of which have not yet been made public, took effect immediately, he said.