Minister Of Trade Zulhas Invites The Community To Encourage Trade Performance In Facing Global Challenges

JAKARTA - The Minister of Trade (Mendag) Zulkifli Hasan invites all Indonesians to work together in promoting trade performance, especially when facing today's global challenges. Improvements in trade performance, both domestic and foreign trade, will support banking performance and vice versa.

This was conveyed by the Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan when giving the keynote speech for the National Seminar with the theme 'Trade Policy, Price Stability, and Conditions of the Banking Industry' held by the Perbanas Institute, Wednesday, November 2.

"To continue to encourage Indonesia's trade performance, the key word is cooperation. A tough challenge for the economy of all countries in the world can be faced with cooperation between all parties. Without collaboration we will experience obstacles. Cooperation is also needed in realizing Indonesia's vision as a developed country in 2045," he said.

Zulhas as Zulkifli Hasan is familiar, explained that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released a revised projection for world economic growth, namely that in 2022 it is estimated that it will only grow by 3.2 percent and will slow down to 2.7 percent in 2023. Global inflation is also estimated to reach 8.8 percent due to rising energy and food commodity prices. However, inflation is expected to decline and reach 6.5 percent in 2023.

"In the midst of global challenges, we should be grateful because the Indonesian economy grew 5.44 percent YoY in the second quarter of 2022. Indonesia's trade balance was also in surplus for 29 consecutive months. In January-September 2022, the surplus reached 39.87 billion US dollars, " he said.

Domestically, continued Zulhas, prices for basic necessities have been stable in the midst of rising fuel prices.

"For bulk cooking oil which is a special task from the President of the Republic of Indonesia, the price is now below the highest retail price (HET), which is Rp. 13,800 per liter. In addition, Oilita is also available in 34 provinces including East Nusa Tenggara, Papua, and West Papua," he added.

In August 2022, said Zulhas, the digitization of trade and finance also showed an increase. The value of electronic money transactions grew by 43.24 percent (YoY), the transaction volume of Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) grew 184 percent (YoY), and the value of digital bank transactions grew 31.40 percent (YoY).

In 2022, the Ministry of Trade will focus on priority programs and policies to strengthen the domestic market and increase non-oil and gas exports. To strengthen the domestic market, the Ministry of Trade prioritizes price stabilization and the availability of basic commodities to control inflation.

Meanwhile, to increase non-oil and gas exports, the Ministry of Trade prioritizes penetration of non-traditional export markets through promotions, trade missions, and the establishment of trade cooperation through the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) schemes.

For example, continued Zulhas, Africa with a population of more than 1 billion and a GDP of 2.11 trillion US dollars, has a trade potential of 595.9 billion US dollars. Middle East with a population of 485 million and a GDP of 5.54 trillion US dollars, with a trade potential of 1 trillion US dollars.

Meanwhile, South Asia with a population of 1.84 billion, has a GDP of 4.07 trillion US dollars, with a trade potential of 757.6 billion US dollars. In addition, the Ministry of Trade has also recently held the largest international trade exhibition in Indonesia, namely the 37th Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) offline on 19-23 October 2022 with a total transaction value of 2.94 billion US dollars.

At the same time, the Ministry of Trade is also promoting Muslim fashion through the Jakarta Muslim Fashion Week (JMFW) to make Indonesia a mecca for world Muslim fashion in 2024 as part of Indonesia's vision to become a hub for world halal products.

On this occasion, Zulhas expressed his appreciation to the Perbanas Institute for holding this national seminar, which is an effort to establish communication and collaboration with various stakeholders in the trade and finance sector.

"In the future, the Ministry of Trade will also open more collaborations with educational institutions and banks that can support the implementation of trade policy strategies to realize Indonesia's vision as a developed country in 2045," he said.