President Jokowi: Quick Economic Recovery Brings Indonesia to Higher Level

President Jokowi, Speaker of the DPR Puan Maharani, and Speaker of the DPD La Nyalla Mattalitti before the presentation of the Government statement on the Bill on the State Budget for the 2024 Fiscal Year and Its Financial Note before the Plenary Session of the DPR at the Parliamentary Complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday (08/16). (Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Rahmat)

Quick economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has successfully brought Indonesia to a higher level, making it become an upper-middle income country in 2022, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said.

The President made the statement in the presentation of the Government statement on the Bill on the State Budget for the 2024 Fiscal Year and Its Financial Note before the Plenary Session of the House of Representatives (DPR) at the Nusantara Building of the Parliamentary Complex in Jakarta, Wednesday (08/16).

According to the President, Indonesia is one of the countries with swift and consistent economic recovery, with economic growth during the last seven quarters since the end of 2021 remaining above 5.0 percent.

“Indonesia’s economy continues to recover. In the first semester of 2023, the national economy grew by 5.1 percent. Indonesia’s inflation also continues to remain under control, reaching 3.1 percent as of July 2023,” he said, adding that the rate of unemployment successfully decreased from 6.26 percent in February 2021 to 5.45 percent in February 2023.

The President also pointed out that the rate of poverty also continued to decline to 9.36 percent in March 2023, with extreme poverty falling from 2.04 percent in March 2022 to 1.12 in March 2023.

Furthermore, the President stated that Indonesia’s fiscal policy is one of the most effective in handling the pandemic and maintaining economic growth, adding that its debt ratio to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is also lower than some countries such as Malaysia’s at 66.3 percent, China’s at 77.1 percent, and India’s at 83.1 percent.

“Indonesian fiscal deficit has returned to below 3 percent of the GDP, one year earlier than the initial plan. Indonesian’s debt ratio is also one of the lowest among G20 and ASEAN countries. In fact, it has decreased from 40.7 percent of the GDP in 2021 to 37.8 percent as of July 2023,” President said.

On that occasion, the President also underscored the importance of accurate strategies and policies to face the rapidly changing global landscape, especially because of geopolitical shifts, which creates supply chain disruption, escalating the risk of food, source and world financial crises.

“This global constellation must be responded with policy strategies that are accurate and anticipative. Economic and fiscal policies must be able to transform the economy to face present and future challenges. On the one hand, food and energy security as well as manufacturing transformation become essential. On the other hand, defense industry must be built competitively to meet the needs for Indonesia’s defense and security sector,” he said. The President added that the world also deals with potential crises due to climate change, thus transition to green energy use must be carried out progressively while remaining just and affordable.

“The potential of Indonesia’s biological economic value must be used as an importance factor to develop and increase investment of green economic at home,” he said.

Moreover, the President stated that the development of digitalization and artificial intelligence is estimated to dominate the global economy, including Indonesia.

“This disruption must be faced with a viable strategy. The development of human capital quality, physical and non-physical infrastructure related to information technology must continue to be improved. The structure of young population thanks to demographic bonus must be utilized to the best possible extent,” he said.

The President further said that economic transformation must continue to be carried out in order to increase investment attractiveness and create massive decent employment while urging Indonesia’s participation in the global supply chain, especially in high-tech and environmentally friendly sectors.

“The improvement of human resources quality is the main factor in economic transformation. The development of human resources that are healthy, productive, and innovative that guarantees inclusivity and justice continues to be carried out. Therefore, the efforts to eradicate extremely poverty and stunting, and to develop remote areas must be successful,” he remarked. (DND/FID/MAY/TGH/UN) (SS/DH)