Prudential Invites Young Generation To Help Increase Sharia Economic Growth In Indonesia

JAKARTA - Prudential Syariah strengthens its commitment to increasing sharia economic growth in Indonesia through increasing literacy and inclusion of sharia life insurance, especially among the younger generation.

Head of Product Development Prudential Syariah Bondan Margono said that although Indonesia has great potential for the Islamic finance sector, the sharia insurance sector has not developed optimally.

"One of these is marked by the low level of literacy and penetration of sharia insurance, far behind conventional insurance," he said in his statement in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Thursday, March 21.

Based on data from the Financial Services Authority (OJK) 2022, he continued, the level of sharia insurance literacy was only 9.14 percent, far below conventional insurance which reached 49.7 percent, the penetration of sharia insurance was still low at 0.13 percent.

"On the other hand, this low literacy and penetration also shows the opportunity for sharia insurance growth in Indonesia which is still very large," he said at the Islamic Business Public Lecture at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia in Depok, West Java.

Therefore, his party hopes that the younger generation, including students, can also participate in encouraging sharia economic growth.

According to him, in terms of potential, Indonesia as the country with the largest Muslim population in the world with 86 percent of the total Muslim population has great potential for Islamic finance.

As part of the relatively new life insurance industry, sharia life insurance continues to grow, he continued, this is marked by the increasing number of Islamic life insurance companies operating, especially since 2011.

The Indonesian Sharia Insurance Association (AASI) recorded fluctuations in the gross contribution of sharia life insurance in Indonesia during the period April 2022 to April 2023 where gross contributions reached the highest peak in December 2022 with IDR 3.07 trillion, which indicates significant growth.

With these conditions, his party is committed to contributing to the growth of the sharia economy and meeting the health and financial protection needs of the Indonesian people.

On that occasion, Bondan stated Prudential Syariah's commitment to accelerate Indonesia's Islamic financial literacy by launching the Sharia Knowledge Center (SKC) in September 2022 as a medium of collaboration around Sharia's economy and finance based on four pillars, namely, the pillars of information, literacy, innovation, and collaboration.