President Jokowi Welcomes IMF Delegation at Bogor Palace

President Jokowi received a visit from the IMF delegation, Sunday (17/07/2022), at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java. (Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat/Muchlis Jr)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo Sunday (07/17) at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java, received an official visit of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation.

The delegates in attendance include Managing Director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva, Director of Asia and Pacific Department of the IMF Krishna Srinivasan, and Senior Representative of the IMF for Indonesia James Walsh.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, who also attended the meeting, said that President Jokowi addressed several things related to Indonesia’s economy.

“Indonesia’s economic performance is relatively better with the inflation of 4.2 percent, 5.01 percent growth. Indonesia’s debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio stood at 42 percent, while other countries reached 100 percent. The budget deficit is still at around 4 percent and the current account is at 0.5 percent. The country’s balance of trade has also been positive for the last 26 months, and our foreign exchange reserves were recorded at US$135 billion,” Airlangga said.

On that occasion, Airlangga revealed that Indonesia has a smaller recession potential of 3 percent compared to other countries, while expressing hope that the IMF will continue to support and provide a positive narrative for the Indonesian economy, especially in the face of the global crisis.

“We are worried about the rising inflation condition in various countries. The interest rate will enter a new regime, namely an increase in global interest rates that will greatly affect the investment into the country,” he said.

Echoing the same sentiment, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani said that the IMF assessed that the Indonesian economy was in good condition from several aspects, such as economic performance, economic growth, the balance of payments which experienced a trade surplus for 26 consecutive months, and the inflation of below 5 percent.

“The most important thing is the synchronization and cooperation of fiscal monetary policy from Bank Indonesia and Ministry of Finance to work in harmony to help maintain the momentum of Indonesia’s economic recovery,” the Minister said.

During the meeting, she added, Managing Director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva also expressed appreciation to the Indonesian Government for handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We certainly hope that Indonesia’s improving condition will be maintained since the President will host the G20 Summit in November,” she remarked. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat/UN) (RIF/LW)