By: Aldia Putra) *
Indonesia’s economic development continued to experience positive trends during the era of President Joko Widodo. In fact, Indonesia’s economy ranks 3rd among the G20 countries. It should be appreciated amid the economic turmoil that is sweeping the world.
President Joko Widodo stressed that Indonesia’s fiscal Monetary conditions were quite good. He also hopes that all parties can continue to be unified so that the economy can continue to be positive. That hope was realized, in front of CEOs and company leaders, Jokowi expressed his gratitude because Indonesia was still ranked 3rd among other G20 countries in terms of economic growth. This was stated in his speech on 28 November 2019 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
Jokowi said that Indonesia was under India and China. The former Surakarta Mayor also expressed this to arouse a sense of optimism.
G20 countries represent 85 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) and two-thirds of the world’s population.
Members of the G20 comprise the United States, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
According to him, many countries grew stagnant and even experienced a recession due to trade wars, geopolitical competition, the Brexit issue to the turmoil in Latin America. However, Indonesia can deal with this blow by strengthening fiscal and maintaining domestic consumption.
Full of optimism, Jokowi predicts that Indonesia’s economic growth this year will be in the range of 5.04-5.05 percent. This projection misses the target of the State Budget (APBN) of 5.3 percent.
He also believes that if the government concentrates on dealing with internal problems, Jokowi believes Indonesia’s economic growth will improve.
Jokowi has also delivered the results of his meeting with the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva who hopes that Indonesia can manage fiscal prudently or be more prudent due to uncertain global conditions.
Jokowi also claimed to agree that Indonesia’s fiscal management must be Prudent. According to him, the state budget only affects approximately 14% of the Indonesian economy. Most of the others, around 86% are influenced by the private sector and BUMN.
On the previous occasion, Minister of Finance 2 Period Sri Mulyani acknowledged, the Government continues to increase vigilance in dealing with global economic uncertainty that continues to increase. The government will also continue to focus on improving competition power and economic productivity through investment policies, trade and infrastructure development, and improving the quality of human resources.
This achievement is certainly our pride, and at the same time becomes the optimism of this nation to be able to compete in the era of globalization.
For this achievement, of course there are those who wonder, why Indonesia can enter the G20 Country and be able to attend the Summit of the G20 Summit which this year has been held in Osaka, Japan.
Of course we all know that the countries which are members of the G20 Summit are very prestigious countries.
Indonesia itself was given the honor of being a member of the G20 in 2008 and as the only ASEAN country to become a member of the G20.
Meanwhile, the 6th Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that the G20 forum was not only an economic forum, but also a forum of civilization, because some of its member countries are countries with a majority Muslim population such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
To answer why Indonesia can join the G20 Forum. One of the reasons for this is that Indonesia has a pluralistic, ethnically diverse society and followers of important religions in the world, and can also be an example of other countries about how diverse societies can coexist.
Meanwhile, Indonesia also has high economic potential, both in its natural and human resources. Demographic bonus experienced by Indonesia where the number of people of high productive age and middle class began to grow rapidly shows the world the enormous potential possessed by Indonesia.
In addition, Indonesia is the 4th most populous country in the world after China, the United States and India. This large population shows a large market potential for products in the world.
This achievement is certainly not something that is playing games, we all hope that Indonesia will be able to become a bridge to world civilization with all the potential possessed both natural resources and human resources.
) * The writer is a social observer