Indonesian Exports Grow 7 Percent, Coordinating Minister Zulhas: Policy Is On The Track

Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

TANGERANG - Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan emphasized that government policies in the trade sector have been running on the right track.

This is reflected in the performance of national exports which recorded significant growth this year.

"Minister of Trade (Budi Santoso) has reported that government policies are on the track, the way is right. Compared to exports last year and this year, our exports have increased by 7 percent," he said at the 40th TEI event, Tangerang, Banten, Wednesday, October 15.

Zulhas, as he is familiarly called, said that Indonesia's export performance showed an increase of more than 7 percent compared to last year.

In fact, the value of the trade surplus also jumped quite sharply.

"Compared to last year, until this month, last year our surplus and the same time compared to this year, last year 19 billion US dollars. This year, that's worth 29 billion US dollars," he said.

Previously, the Minister of Trade (Mendag) Budi Santoso ensured that the escalation of trade wars between the United States and China did not have a significant impact on Indonesia's export performance.

According to Budi, the latest data shows that Indonesia's export trend continues to grow positively to the two countries.

"If we look at the numbers, there is no problem, right. Our exports are even our highest surplus to America. Our exports to China have also increased," he said on the sidelines of the Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) 2025 event, Wednesday, October 15.

Budi said, although global trade tension increased, national export performance was still stable and even grew above the target.

"Now our exports continue to rise. Hopefully there won't be any problems," he said.

To maintain the momentum of export growth, continued Budi, the Ministry of Trade will continue to encourage increased competitiveness of domestic products and expand promotions, including for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

"Anyway, in principle, we want to export any product," he said.

Budi is optimistic that the export growth target of 7.1 percent this year can be achieved.

He said export growth from January to August had reached 7.7 percent.

This year's target is 7.1 percent. Now, if January to August is 7.7 percent, hopefully it will continue until December, at least the same or even more increase. We'll try to increase it," he said.