Different From Jokowi's Staff, Sri Mulyani's Subordinates Are Optimistic That Indonesia Will Return To Being An Upper-middle Income Country In 2022

Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency of the Ministry of Finance Febrio Kacaribu. (Photo: Screenshot of the Ministry of Finance)

JAKARTA - The government through the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) affirms that Indonesia will again be included in the ranks of upper middle income countries in 2022.

This statement was made by the Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency of the Ministry of Finance, Febrio Kacaribu, responding to Indonesia's status, which this year must be reduced to a lower middle income country.

"We will be able to return to being an upper-middle-income country next year," he said in a virtual discussion, Friday, July 9.

Febrio's belief is based on the projected 2021 per capita income which is greater than the 2019 period when RI held the status of an upper middle income country.

"This year the per capita income of the Indonesian people will be greater than 2019 before the pandemic. So I think that until the end of 2021 we can re-enter the ranks of countries with upper-middle income," he said.

Furthermore, Sri Mulyani's subordinates emphasized that the decline in levels experienced did not have much effect on the condition of the people in the country.

“Does this affect our society? Not at all. The government's current focus is protecting the poor and other vulnerable groups from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

For information, a report released by the World Bank recently stated that Indonesia must re-enter the category of lower middle-income country due to the decline in per capita income caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In detail, the global financial institution revealed that Indonesia's per capita income fell from 4,050 US dollars in 2019 to 3,870 US dollars in 2020.

Meanwhile, based on World Bank estimates, the minimum threshold for a country to become a middle-income country this year rose to US$4,096.

Previously, President Jokowi's Special Staff for Economic Affairs, Arif Budimanta, said that Indonesia will return to being an upper-middle income country in the next 1-2 years if economic growth reaches 5-6 percent per year and population growth increases by 1.2 percent per year.

"In the not too distant future, namely in the next 1-2 years, we will immediately return to the upper middle income category (upper middle income countries), although there is an increase in the thresholds (classification) carried out by the World Bank, namely from (gross national income) 4,046 US dollar to 4,096 US dollars," he said as quoted by Antara, Friday, July 9.