Airlangga Emphasizes The Strategic Role Of The Retail And MSME Sector To Encourage Economic Growth

JAKARTA - The Indonesian economy in the second quarter of 2025 recorded growth of 5.12 percent (yoy). One of the main drivers of growth in this period is household consumption which contributed significantly by 2.64 percent to total economic growth.

Meanwhile, the portion of household consumption itself against the national GDP this quarter recorded an achievement of 54.25 percent.

"Mr. President wants our growth (economic) to be 8 percent. So we are looking for the biggest collector. Now, the biggest collector is the consumption sector. So we give applause for consumption. The consumption is followed by the growth of MSMEs. So we saw earlier that MSMEs filling the consumption sector were high, and of course we appreciate local brands," said Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto in his statement, quoted Thursday, August 28.

Airlangga said the BINA Lebaran program, Friday Mubarak, Holiday Sale, BINA Discount Shopping Day (HBD) Indonesia, Indonesia Shopping Festival, Jakarta Great Sale, Solo Raya Great Sale showed the success of the synergy between business actors, the government, local governments, and business actors being able to drive public consumption.

Then also the sector under the Ministry of Tourism, how to bundling spending is the destination of tourists. Especially Malaysian tourists who are usually hunting in Indonesia. And the direction of the President has allowed that our airports be opened for international or regional flights. So, maybe we can also encourage spending programs or campaigns in Indonesia," he said.

Furthermore, he conveyed, foreign tourist visits (tourists) to Indonesia showed a positive trend where the number of visits in 2024 was recorded at 13 million visits with a foreign exchange value of IDR 296 trillion.

As for June 2025, foreign tourist visits have reached 7 million visits or have exceeded half of the achievements in 2024, with this trend, foreign exchange generated until June 2025 is estimated to reach IDR 160 trillion which also provides great opportunities for the retail, culinary and local creative sectors.

Di sisi lain, Airlangga juga menjelaskan terkait prospek perdagangan Indonesia ke depan yang semakin cerah dan optimis, di mana Indonesia saat ini tengah dalam proses penandatanganan kerja sama IEU-CEPA yang akan membuka akses pasar Eropa dengan biaya masuk nol.

Selain itu, ia menambahkan, ketidakpastian tarif dengan Amerika Serikat juga telah terselesaikan dan menjadikan Indonesia sebagai negara ketiga yang berhasil mencapai kesepakatan dan Indonesia juga mencatat kemenangan dalam sengketa perdagangan di WTO terkait produk biodiesel melawan Eropa.

“Kita harus kejar pariwisata itu sebagai low hanging fruit. Dan itu juga penghasil devisa yang besar. Jadi seperti untuk mendukung pembelian di dalam negeri mari kita keroyok juga sektor pariwisata. Kalau kita keroyok antara Menteri UMKM, Menteri Perdagangan, Menteri Pariwisata saya yakin semakin lama dolar akan semakin masuk ke Indonesia,” pungkas Airlangga.

On the other hand, Airlangga also explained the prospect of Indonesia's trade in the future which is getting brighter and more optimistic, where Indonesia is currently in the process of signing the IEU-CEPA cooperation which will open access to the European market with zero entry fees.

In addition, he added, the uncertainty of tariffs with the United States has also been resolved and made Indonesia the third country to reach an agreement and Indonesia also recorded victory in a trade dispute at the WTO related to biodiesel products against Europe.

"We have to pursue tourism as a low hanging fruit. And that's also a big foreign exchange earner. So, like to support domestic purchases, let's also gang up on the tourism sector. If we gang up between the Minister of MSMEs, the Minister of Trade, the Minister of Tourism, I'm sure the longer the dollar will go to Indonesia, "concluded Airlangga.