After the presidential election in Indonesia, people have certain hopes and expectations for the direction of the country’s economy. One of the economic challenges after the presidential election is to maintain economic stability and implement policies that support sustainable economic growth. This was conveyed by the Deputy Minister of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, Prof. Suahasil Nazara, Ph.D. when delivering a keynote speech in a forum entitled Indonesia: Answering Economic Challenges After the Presidential Election’ which took place at the Financial Hall, Graha CIMB Niaga Jakarta.
He also said that to grow the Indonesian economy after the presidential election, it is necessary to open new economic growth spaces as a means of equitable development. “This includes the adoption of the digital economy, new intermediary sectors other than banking, green economy development, creating domestic products and markets, industrial relocation, downstream performance of natural resources, and improving the financial sector,” Prof. Suahasil said.
The forum organized by the Alumni Association of the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) of the University of Indonesia (UI) presented the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia for the 2013-2014 period, Muhamad Chatib Basri; Head of the Demographic Institute of FEB UI, I Gede Dewa K. Wisana; and the Investment Committee of PT Paragon Universa Utama, Ratih Savitri Ali.
Muhamad Chatib Basri explained that to achieve economic growth of 6%, Indonesia needs to transform the economy through five pillars, namely science and technology innovation and economic productivity, green economy implementation, digital transformation, domestic and global economic integration and cities as centers of economic growth. He added that the key to accelerating economic growth is increasing productivity through improving the quality of human resources, infrastructure development, improving governance and digital transformation.
Chatib also highlighted issues in economic regulation/policy making, such as the shortening product cycle, the difficulty of regulators pursuing innovation, the difference between conventional companies and start-ups, and the need for a balance between innovation and consumer protection. “Regulators should be guided by their ultimate goal of promoting the national interest at its best,” Chatib said at the forum held on Friday (17/5).
Meanwhile, I Gede Dewa K. Wisana said that after 2030, Indonesia will experience population ‘aging’ and increased life expectancy. This requires asset accumulation by the current productive population to finance their consumption in old age.
“Currently, demographic challenges in Indonesia include disparities in health status between regions, a double burden of disease that reduces productivity, inadequate population quality to spur economic growth, unoptimal population mobility, women’s work participation that needs to be encouraged, unoptimal population data governance and the need to expand social security coverage,” said Dewa.
