The Indonesian Economy Can Grow Up To 5 Percent Despite The Iran-Israel Conflict

JAKARTA - Deputy Director of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Eko Listiyanto stated that Indonesia's economic growth will still allow it to reach the range of 4.5-5 percent in 2024, despite the escalation of conflicts between Iran and Israel.

"If I look at it so far, with the current escalation of the conflict, I think the impact on the real sector's economy is still limited, if we look at it to grow, say 4.5 to 5 percent, I still have confidence that in 2024 we can still grow," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, April 22.

Confidence in economic growth in the range of 4.5-5 percent is based on Indonesia's successful experience through the challenges caused by the war between Russia and Ukraine since 2022.

At that time, food needs, especially wheat, experienced obstacles at the global level, but Indonesia's macroeconomics could still grow.

"Indeed, it is not accelerating (Indonesian economic growth), but to just survive it is actually still possible in the current situation of increasing economic and geopolitical uncertainty," said Eko.

He suspected that the impact of the conflict between Iran and Israel would not have occurred if the government could manage consumption and production components, especially with regard to industry as one of the sectors driving economic growth.

However, to target economic growth of up to 7 percent, it is rather difficult to do because global conditions do not support it and the domestic situation has not been able to support the fundamental optimism of the domestic economy.

Our economy is actually stillward looking (policy that focuses on developing domestic industries), so it is still very dominated by domestic activity. It's just that we have to see if the rupiah continues to fluctuate, then energy prices also tend to increase, it still has an impact on the domestic economy, it will erode our economic capabilities," he said.