By: Clara Diah Wulandari )*
Great appreciation should be given to Indonesia which has proven to be able to enter again as a country that is considered to have an upper middle income by the World Bank. This award is a form of achievement that we are very proud of because it has been proven that all the Government’s efforts under President Jokowi’s leadership have succeeded in demonstrating Indonesia’s strength even in the eyes of the world.
The President of the Republic of Indonesia (RI), Joko Widodo (Jokowi) revealed that the World Bank or the World Bank has again included Indonesia as one of the countries that have an upper middle income in the world or known as an upper middle income country.
Of course, it’s not without reason why the World Bank has re-entered Indonesia into the ranks of countries with upper middle incomes. This is due to the existence of very good national economic growth and the ability to remain stable despite being shaken by various kinds of obstacles, even now it has managed to return to above 5% (percent).
With this success, Indonesia continues to be able to maintain its national economic sector until it is proven capable of convincing the World Bank, which then makes Indonesia re-included into the ranks of countries with upper middle income, because there is indeed an economic recovery process that is happening very quickly.
It is also undeniable how this process of national economic recovery can occur so quickly and accelerate Indonesia’s position even in the eyes of the world. All of this is one clear proof of the hard work of all parties so far, especially the Government of Indonesia under President Joko Widodo’s leadership era.
Because indeed he has emphasized many times, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic has started to hit that this nation will then immediately focus on making efforts to accelerate its economic recovery. So that there are lots of steps and strategies directly carried out for the success of this.
Even though at present the performance of the national economic sector itself can be said to have improved again because it was able to break the figure above 5% (percent) again, but of course this should not make all parties fall into complacent and then become complacent.
In an effort to be able to maintain awareness of the possibilities or various potentials that might arise if the Government of Indonesia and many other parties do not continue to maintain the value of the economy at above 5% (percent), then of course Indonesia’s position will also be threatened again.
What’s more, actually in the future there are still many challenges that are ready to face Indonesia and indeed it must be able to be faced and handled by this nation immediately. Especially because at this time the second compliance from 2023 has just taken place.
Even though all parties have predicted since the beginning of 2023 that in 2023 economic conditions will become difficult due to the many problems that occur even simultaneously, including at that time there was a geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine and so on so that the world is on the verge of crisis from economic uncertainty to the threat of inflation, even stagflation.
However, President Jokowi is trying to convince all parties and emphasizes that indeed the situation that Indonesia itself will face in facing the second half of 2023 is not easy so that all parties must be able to be able to continue to increase their vigilance on several important matters.
Furthermore, the Head of State then mentioned that there are several challenges that are indeed very important for this nation to be able to continue to watch out for, one of which is regarding the global environment which still shows an unstable condition due to geopolitical tensions which are still ongoing even today.
If geopolitical tensions between several countries in the world continue to occur and are allowed to drag on for a long time, then of course this will be able to impact and have an impact on various other things such as economic growth to domestic trade activities, which will obviously reduce export performance.
Moreover, various international institutions have also expressed the reality that there will be various challenges ahead that the global economic slowdown will continue in 2023. The IMF itself estimates that the global economy will only grow by 2.8% (percent), then the World Bank even predicts a lower figure of 2.1% (percent).
However, in fact, with all the threats that have been passed by Indonesia, even since it was hit by the last storm of the COVID-19 pandemic, until it set foot in 2023, many parties have predicted there will be a world economic shock. This nation is still able to score very good and consistent national economic figures, and is now even able to break through the 5% (percent) mark again. Of course, all the performance and efforts made by the Government of Indonesia, led by President Jokowi, deserve the highest possible appreciation.
)* The author is a contributor to Nusantara Reading Room