Jakarta, Dec. 2 -- President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) ordered a reduction in the oil and gas imports to solve the current account deficit (CAD) issue.

The CAD has shown no signs of abating for many years now, the president said during a lunch meeting with journalists at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Monday.

"As we all know, our oil and gas imports are very large, while in fact, we have oil wells to increase oil production. Surely, production must be increased. Only if (the production) really declines, we will import, instead of relying on imports continuously," he said.

Jokowi stated that the country should not necessarily import oil and gas if substitutes are produced domestically.

"For example, oil and oil refinery development. For m...