BI Projects Bengkulu Economic Growth Next Year Above 4.7 Percent

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) projects that the economic growth of Bengkulu Province in 2025 will be able to grow above 4.7 percent, better than in previous years.

"We project that 2025 economic growth will be even better, as well as inflation will remain under control in the national inflation target range. In the range above 2024 growth, above 4.7 percent, but maybe less than 5 percent of that," said Deputy Head of BI Bengkulu Province Representative Ditha Aditya Nugraha as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, December 13.

Bengkulu's economic growth in 2020 or during the pandemic fell at minus 0.02 percent, then in 2021 it improved by growing 3.17 percent.

Bengkulu's economy improved again in 2022 which grew 4.31 percent, but slowed slightly in 2023 which was recorded at 4.26 percent (yoy).

Then in 2024, Bengkulu's economic growth is estimated to be able to grow in the range of 4.49-4.71 percent (yoy).

This has begun to be seen from the economic growth rate of Bengkulu in the third quarter of 2024 which grew by 4.57 percent.

According to Aditya, to realize better economic growth in 2025, the local government together with BI have formed an investment acceleration team as a step to shift the foundations of Bengkulu from the consumption sector to investment.

"The government's efforts to build economic growth, Bengkulu Province must be supported by increased investment and we together with the Bengkulu Provincial government already have an investment acceleration team and we will continue to continue efforts related to increasing investment in Bengkulu Province," he said.

Then, BI together with local governments also curated a number of potential regional investment destinations in 10 districts and cities in Bengkulu.

This is the goal so that potential investors get accurate data and information about investment potential, so that they have more certainty and are interested in investing in Bengkulu.

Not only the investment side, BI also continues to improve the quality of local MSMEs so that they can reach the international market. MSMEs are also accompanied in building brands, business management, licensing and promotions.

In addition, he continued, TPID also continues to play an optimal role, such as in 2024 in maintaining inflation according to the national inflation target of 2.5 plus minus 1 percent.

Low and stable inflation will also provide a positive impetus to regional economic growth because it does not burden people's purchasing power but also does not make the production sector sluggish.

However, Aditya said, in 2025 there will also be challenges that need to be considered, namely global economic conditions that are still unstable due to disputes that occur in a number of countries.

"The challenge in 2025, the dynamics of the global economy is still uncertain, where there are some related to disputes in several countries. Then related to climate, where La-Nina is also estimated to have an impact until the first quarter of 2025, it is a challenge both in terms of the global economy and climate," he said.