Indonesian Economy Survives Above 5 Percent, Airlangga Says This is Proof of National Resilience

Photo: Aris Nurjani/VOI

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, assessed Indonesia's economic growth of 5.29 percent year on year (year on year/yoy) in the second quarter of 2026 as a good achievement.

According to him, this figure was achieved amid the lack of seasonal consumption drivers and high global economic pressure.

Airlangga explained that for the past two years Indonesia is still facing various external challenges, ranging from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, tensions in the Middle East, trade wars, to technological disruption which put pressure on the world economy.

"Now, in the midst of such conditions, even though various institutions see global economic growth only growing at an average of above 3 percent, Indonesia is still able to grow in the second quarter by 5.29 percent," he said in a press conference, Wednesday, August 5.

He also emphasized that this achievement was achieved without the momentum of religious holidays such as Lebaran which this year took place in the first quarter.

"As we know, the second quarter has no major events such as Eid because it has entered the first quarter. So the figure of 5.29 percent is a pretty good figure," he said.

Cumulatively, Indonesia's economy in the first half of 2026 grew by 5.45 percent.

Airlangga said that this achievement extended the trend of national economic growth above 5 percent for 7 consecutive years and placed Indonesia as one of the countries with the best economic performance in the ASEAN region.

"With a growth of 5.45 percent throughout this semester, also among other countries including in ASEAN, it is one of the top. We saw yesterday that Vietnam was slightly above us at 8 percent," he said.

In terms of regions, the Bali and Nusa Tenggara region (Bali-Nusra) recorded the highest economic growth with a figure of 6.1 percent YoY. Airlangga assessed that this achievement shows that the tourism sector has recovered and has become an economic driver for the region, both through domestic and foreign tourists.

"Well this shows that the tourism sector can also move to improve the welfare of the regions of Bali and Nusa Tenggara and tourism is driven by both domestic and foreign tourists," he said.

Meanwhile, Java Island is still the center of national economic activity, namely this area contributes 56.4 percent to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and recorded a growth of 5.65 percent (yoy), higher than the national average.

According to Airlangga, this condition shows that the national supply chain is still well maintained and continues to be the driving force of the Indonesian economy.