Airlangga Hartarto: DEFA Able To Boost ASEAN's Economy

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto together with the member state ministers have inaugurated DEFA which was able to boost the ASEAN economy to reach 2 trillion US dollars or equivalent to IDR 30,400 trillion by 2030.

"This will increase the potential of the ASEAN digital economy, which business as usual, is 1 trillion US dollars. But with the implementation of DEFA it can increase to 2 trillion US dollars by 2030," said Coordinating Minister Airlangga at the 23rd Meeting of the ASEAN Economic Community Council (AECC) in Jakarta, Sunday, September 3.

The Digital Economic Framework Agreement (DEFA) is a framework for a comprehensive roadmap to empower the business world and stakeholders in the ASEAN region, through accelerating trade growth, creating a secure digital environment, and increasing MSME participation.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga assessed that another goal of the DEFA's agreement was to advance Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia and other regional countries.

He gave an example of the implementation of Local Currency Transaction (LCT) in five countries aimed at facilitating transactions between MSME actors.

"Then to encourage e-commerce to be used where there are certain transactions, if Indonesia is 100 dollars, intervention from customs is seamless between people to people, so there are several regulations prepared so that several ASEAN countries can encourage MSMEs," said Coordinating Minister Airlangga as quoted by Antara.

Furthermore, Coordinating Minister Airlangga explained that with the existence of DEFA, Indonesia entered a new chapter in the integration of the digital economy in the region. The agreement is expected to encourage innovation, attract investment, increase productivity.

As is known, the regional economy has a total value of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$3.6 trillion in 2022. And other potentials can be reflected in the data that 40 percent of the total value of the ASEAN digital economy currently comes from Indonesia. Therefore, with the existence of DEFA, Indonesia's digital economy is also expected to grow.