Bank Permata Economist: Indonesia's Economy Continues To Show Resilience Amid Global Turbulence

JAKARTA - Head of Bank Permata economist Josua Pardede said the Indonesian economic condition continues to show resilience amid global turmoil. "In the country, Indonesia's economic development continues to show resilience," said Josua, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, January 17.

He said inflation in December 2023 was recorded to be low at the level of 2.61 percent year on year (yoy), down from 2.86 percent yoy in the previous month. "This decline is in line with the normalization of energy prices and production input prices, which supports the maintenance of the price inflation rate regulated by the government and core inflation," he said.

According to him, El Nino's impact on the increase in volatile price inflation remains effectively controlled. Overall, the inflation rate was managed in the 2-4 percent target range. On the external sector side, Indonesia's trade surplus lasted until the end of 2023. Indonesia reached a surplus of 3.3 billion US dollars in December 2023, an increase from 2.4 billion US dollars in the previous month. The trade surplus managed to support foreign exchange reserves which reached 146.4 billion US dollars at the end of 2023, an increase from 137.2 billion US dollars in 2022. Therefore, the rupiah exchange rate managed to strengthen by 1.11 percent from the end of 2022 to Rp15,397 per US dollar at the end of 2023. In the second week of January 2024, the rupiah tended to move sideways in the range of Rp15,400 per US dollar to Rp15,600 per US dollar. Previously, Bank Indonesia Governor (BI) Perry Warjiyo said that the Indonesian economy continued to grow well supported by domestic demand, and estimated that economic growth in 2023 was in the range 4.5 to 5.3 percent.

"The Indonesian economy continues to grow both supported by domestic demand. Household consumption and investment continue to grow in line with public confidence and continued completion of national strategic projects," Perry said in the Announcement of the Results of the December 2023 Monthly Board of Governors Meeting in Jakarta, Thursday (21/12). In 2024, consumption performance, both private and government and investment, is expected to continue to increase in line with the confidence that public consumption remains good, the positive impact of general election implementation (election) and the sustainability of national strategic project development. With these developments, Indonesia's economic growth in 2024 is expected to increase in the range of 4.7 to 5.5 percent.