Indonesia Targets Overtake Brazil To Be The World's Largest Exporter Of Halal Products

JAKARTA – The government, through the National Committee for Islamic Economy and Finance (KNEKS), is targeting to become the world's largest exporter of halal products.

Head of the KNEKS Secretariat Wempi Saputra said that as a country with a majority Muslim population, Indonesia has great potential to develop sharia economy and finance. Therefore, he said, the government is currently focusing on making Indonesia the world's leading Islamic economic center.

"The big exporters of halal products in the world actually come from Brazil and other countries whose Muslim population is not as big as Indonesia," he said in a press statement quoted on Sunday, December 26.

According to Wempi, the largest Muslim population as well as a large market potential in the country has not been optimally exploited.

"In fact, it can be a source of new economic growth," he said.

Furthermore, Wempi revealed that the principles of Islamic economics are in line with the direction of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

"The sharia economy actually has consistent values for the SDGs, it's just that the development has not been optimally worked out yet," he said.

These conditions encourage Indonesia to be able to optimize the role of sharia economic activities and form KNEKS.

"It's not just being an option, but becoming the main stream or mainstream which is a source of new economic growth in the global economy by utilizing a population or demand potential that is so large in Indonesia and the world," he concluded.