Qualifying The Middle Income Trap, Kaltara Becomes A Pilot For National Economic Growth

SPECIAL PHOTOS

TANJUNG SELOR The government is making efforts to increase economic growth in every region in Indonesia, although until now the economy is still concentrated on the island of Java.

To achieve the vision of Indonesia Gold 2045 and be able to get out of the middle income trap, currently Indonesia's economic growth of 5 percent is not enough, so it must be pushed around 6-7 percent with investments growing 6.8 percent for the next two decades.

"If we look at it per province, Jakarta has already passed the middle income trap. Jakarta has a per capita income of 21 thousand and other provinces that have also passed the middle income trap based on per capita income, namely East Kalimantan and North Kalimantan (Kaltara)," said Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto.

According to him, if you want to see how to increase the per capita income of a province, it can be compared to these provinces.

"Actually, we can see various provinces in Indonesia as an example of how we can raise most of the other provinces so that nationally we can pass the middle income trap," said Airlangga.

Airlangga said that if Indonesia could pass the middle income trap in 2045, the Indonesian economy could become 9 trillion US dollars.

From the release of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Kaltara, the economic growth of Kaltara in 2023 (c-to-c) experienced growth of 4.94 percent. Growth occurred in all business fields. The business field for electricity and gas procurement experienced the highest growth of 18.58 percent, followed by the business field. ieuangan and insurance services by 12.38 percent. As well as construction and provision of accommodation and food and drink by 8.24 percent.

The Governor of Kaltara, Zainal A. Paliwang is optimistic that economic growth in Kaltara can grow positively. This is in line with a number of investment potentials in districts/cities throughout North Kalimantan including the construction of coal ports, the development of hotels and restaurants, the rice packaging industry, the seaweed downstream industry.

"We continue to strive to open space for business actors to bring in investors from outside the region to invest in Kaltara," said the Governor of Kaltara, Thursday, July 25.

The governor revealed that the sector is like in the energy sector. Where there are two major projects currently underway in Kaltara, such as the construction of a Hydroelectric Power Plant (PLTA), both the Kayan River and the Mentarang River.

"In the Green Industrial Estate of Indonesia (KIHI) Bulungan Regency, currently absorbs nearly 5,200 workers, in Tarakan there is also a paper porridge industry by PT. Phoenix Resources International (PRI) which will absorb 800 workers in stage 1," explained Zainal.

According to him, in the future the potential for employment will continue to grow and the Provincial Government of Kaltara will strive and encourage development in the agriculture, fisheries and manufacturing sectors.

"These three sectors have a very high chance of absorbing labor, in the near future there will also be investors for the development of agricultural areas in Bulungan," he concluded.