Minister of Finance Purbaya wants to strengthen local marketplaces, press other countries' dominance

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa is studying efforts to strengthen local marketplace platforms to prevent global players from dominating amid the rapid growth of trade digitization.

Purbaya assessed that the current lokapasar ecosystem is more controlled by foreign companies. This condition, he said, is a challenge for local business actors.

"I'm thinking about whether there are domestic companies that can be revived to become competition from China's dominance," Purbaya told reporters as reported by ANTARA, Saturday, March 21.

In order to be able to present a rival from domestic actors, Purbaya tried to study the existing marketplace ecosystem, including those that collaborate with social media such as Tokopedia and TikTok.

This step is one of Purbaya's efforts to strengthen the national economy.

In the midst of global geopolitical turmoil, the Minister of Finance has put in place a strategy to strengthen domestic demand in order to prevent dependence on external factors.

Apart from the "marketplace", the state treasurer also prepares a plan to support the private sector, maintain people's purchasing power, manage the price of subsidized fuel oil (BBM) from the impact of global oil prices, to encourage government spending to be absorbed in a timely manner.

"Even though it is global, but the demand (domestic) is still strong. Maybe (the economy) will slow down if (the conflict) continues to rise. But I will take care of domestic demand," he said.

Overall, he assessed that the national economy was relatively well maintained, which was seen in various economic indicators and field reviews he conducted during Ramadan.

He is also optimistic that economic growth in the first quarter of 2026 will be able to reach 5.7 percent.

"If the latest figure is true, economic growth could be 5.6-5.7 percent," he said.