President Jokowi Express Optimism on 2022 Economic Growth
President Joko Widodo
Indonesia is entering 2022 with better economic foundation, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has announced.
“I am confident that we can accelerate our economic growth much better in 2022,” the President said in his remarks via teleconference at the CNBC Indonesia Economic Outlook 2022, Tuesday (03/22).
The first foundation, the President continued, is the country’s success in tackling the pandemic and he expressed optimism that it will make it easier to speed up the economy in this year.
Second, the country has embarked on the most fundamental and comprehensive structural reforms in the past year. “The issuance of Law on Job Creation and simplifying bureaucracy for investment is a big foundation where we are starting to see and enjoy the results in 2022,” President Jokowi added.
Third, a large scale of industrial downstreaming have been carried out in 2021.
According to the President, the Government will gradually stop the export of mineral raw materials and coal and encourage domestic downstreaming. “The downstreaming measures will gradually be higher, increasing, and continue to drive the economy and create jobs in the country,” he said.
Fourth, Indonesia also has a fairly strong digital economy foundation as a new economic base. President Jokowi further said that in 2021 decacorn start-ups have been born in the country and the number of unicorn start-ups continues to rise and this is proof that digital infrastructure is expanding and digital ecosystem is more favorable.
On the occasion, the Head of State also explained the efforts to be made to speed up economic growth in 2022:
First, downstreaming will be continued with more varied product derivatives. This will trigger greater investment, provide more job opportunities, and increase the value of exports, thus the country’s balance of payments, fiscal, and monetary will improve, the President stated.
Second, the Government will speed up the development of a green economy, which is Indonesia’s strength. “Indonesian nature provides us with great capital to develop cheap green electricity: hydro power, wind power, solar power, and geothermal power are very abundant in our country, Indonesia. We must optimize this strength to increase Indonesia’s competitiveness in the future green economy era,” he added.
Third, the Government has also started the construction of the capital of Nusantara this year. President Jokowi stated that the construction will become one of the driving forces of economic growth in the country, especially eastern Indonesia, and will become a motor of innovation to speed up future economic development.
“I invite investors to contribute to the process, to be part of the nation’s important historical journey, to contribute to the progress of Indonesia and the glory of Nusantara,” he added.
In addition, the President also underscored the rise of global challenges and uncertainties, starting from the COVID-19 pandemic, unrecovered global economy, high inflation in various countries, to wars that have deepened the economic crisis and increased world political tensions.
Nevertheless, he continued, the challenges and uncertainties must be faced carefully with cooperation and collaboration between the Government and business actors with prompt and appropriate policies, as well as effective implementation in dealing with these issues.
“What is certain is that the people must not be a victim of the global uncertainty. We must continue to raise investment that creates new employment and we must continue to strive for inclusive and equitable economic growth,” he remarked. (TGH/UN) (GWH/LW)
