Expert staff to the Finance Minister, Halim Alamsyah, has predicted that Indonesia’s economy will grow in the range of 5.2–5.8 percent in 2022 if the country successfully contains the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Economic growth may reach the range of five percent if our production activities return to normal and public consumption level begins to recover,” Alamsyah said in a press statement received in Jakarta on Friday.
The government needs to continue structural reforms to encourage foreign investment in Indonesia’s export-oriented and high-valued economic sectors, the expert staff said.
The government must also prioritize investment in sectors that could produce quality and competent workforce, he added.
Alamsyah highlighted three potential challenges that countries in the world may face in 2022: global inflation due to disruptions in the supply and demand line, global energy crisis, and global market uncertainty due to changes in the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy.
“The potential global market uncertainty will surely test the economic resilience of any country. We can also see whether the economic sector of one country will survive the global economic challenges or not,” he said.
Indonesia has good economic fundamentals that will help the country face global economic challenges, though the national economy is not manufacturing-based but commodity-based, he noted.
The expert staff said he is also confident that while some countries are struggling to handle their energy crisis, Indonesia will benefit from the current increasing global demand for commodities.
“We can see our balance of trade is in a surplus condition, and though we were earlier afraid that our current account will record a deficit, it instead is also in a surplus condition,” Alamsyah said.
Source: Antara News