Indonesia Has Great Potential In The Digital Economy

JAKARTA - Indonesia has great potential in the digital economy in maintaining the stability of the Indonesian economy in ASEAN in 2023.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said that 2023 is a strategic momentum for Indonesia to maintain economic and political stability in the international world by increasing the digital economy.

In addition, according to Airlangga, Indonesia's digital economy potential will be supported by the potential of the ASEAN region which is estimated to have a digital economy value that will increase to US$330 billion by 2025 and by 2030 it will skyrocket to US$1 trillion.

Airlangga said that a third of the value of the digital economy comes from Indonesia and hopes that with the Digital Economic Agreement Framework (DEFA) the digital economy will increase, which is to 2 trillion US dollars by 2030, and Indonesia will contribute around 40 percent or 800 million US dollars from the ASEAN digital economy.

"In participating in ASEAN, Indonesia has great potential in the digital economy. The value of the Asean digital economy is estimated at around US$1 trillion in 2023 with the Digital Economic Agreement Framework (DEFA) targeted at 2 trillion and if Indonesia is around 40 percent, it means US$800 million in 2030," he explained in his remarks at the BNI Investor Daily Summit, Tuesday, October 24.

According to Airlangga, it is in accordance with the agenda of international cooperation in the digital economy ecosystem.

It is very important to increase competitiveness and optimization in various economic cooperation.

Airlangga said, based on the World Digital Index report, Indonesia was ranked 51 out of 64 countries.

"Although, we are up two levels but this is not enough, and one of the things that must be boosted is technology, features and knowledge in order to jump bigger," he explained.

Airlangga said the government continues to encourage the digital economy by carrying out various progesive activities with the private sector, especially in the accessibility of digital technology in the expansion of digital satellite infrastructure and data centers.

Meanwhile, digital talent is one of the concerns of the Government and the Government has a retraining and reskilling program for digital talent, including encouraging Digital Hubs or Special Economic Zones (SEZs) Digital.

"The government continues to encourage both BTS, 4G, 5G, human resources improvement, blockchain basic knowledge, AI transformation, optimization and clouding in education," he said.

On the other hand, Airlangga said that the public does not need to be afraid of artificial intelligence (AI), but must anticipate by increasing competence to become an AI Engineer.

"There are several things that become a regulation or become a concern in the first few countries, namely AI should not conflict with national interst, private inters, and must keep AI in accordance with healthy competition," he explained.

Airlangga said that in the digital ecosystem, there needs to be a solid synergy and collaboration between the government, stakeholders and all levels of society that feel a digital acceleration in increasing Indonesia's digital economy growth.