President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) rang the bell to open the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) stock trading in 2023 at 9 a.m. local time (UTC +7) on Monday.

“We must be thankful that our index in 2022 increased by 4.1 percent as compared with other countries that experienced huge drops,” the president stated after opening this year’s stock trading here.

He said that the government’s decision to rescind the public activities restriction (PPKM) policy last Friday (December 30) was due to the constantly improving COVID-19 pandemic conditions.

Indonesia’s COVID-19 pandemic indicators had not surpassed the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) threshold for the last 10 months, as per the government’s assessment, he noted.

“We decided to revoke the PPKM policy not for show, but it was based on our assessment for the last 10 months that we have controlled COVID-19. Our positivity rate and fatality rate are all below the WHO threshold,” Jokowi expounded.

The president then lauded Indonesia’s stock trading growth in 2022, as market capitalization had grown to Rp9,499 trillion despite ongoing global crises and economic uncertainties that year.

“(2022) is the year when the global economy, as well as ours, was under significant ordeals. We must be careful and remain vigilant,” he stated.

He also commended the current demography of BEI investors, as 70 percent are investors below 40 years of age and 55 percent are below the age of 30, signifying the bright prospects of Indonesia’s stock trading in the future.

Meanwhile, the IDX Composite (IHSG) on Monday opened lower by 8.51 points, equal to 0.12 percent, to 6,842.11, while the 45 blue chips, or the LQ45 index, was down by 1.81 points, equal to 0.19 percent, to 935.37.

Moreover, the exchange rate of the rupiah increased by 78 points, or 0.5 percent, to Rp15,495 per US dollar as compared to Rp15,573 per US dollar recorded at the last market closing.

Source: Antara News