Indonesia Maintains Investment Grade Rating, Coordinating Minister Airlangga: Signs Of Strong Investor Confidence

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto (Photo: Doc. Coordinating Ministry for the Economy)

JAKARTA – The rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) stated that Indonesia has succeeded in improving its economic outlook by maintaining the BBB level as an investment grade category.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said this recognition is a strong indication of economic recovery that will continue for the next two years.

“In the midst of the economic recovery process and global risks such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and rising global inflation, we are grateful that after two years, Indonesia's outlook has finally been upgraded to stable. This indicates that investor confidence is still strong in the credibility of government policies and economic resilience," he said in an official statement quoted on Saturday, April 30.

According to Airlangga, the foreign entity projects that Indonesia's economic growth will increase to 5.1 percent in 2022 in line with the opening of economic restrictions. Then, S&P also considers that the Job Creation Law is believed to be able to improve the business and investment climate as well as the growth of economic potential.

"The Job Creation Law regulates lower corporate tax rates and more flexible labor market policies that are useful for ensuring sustainable economic sustainability in the future," he said.

Furthermore, Airlangga also said that Indonesia's recovery rate would accelerate further this year after growing 3.7 percent in 2021. He said this optimism was supported by the successful handling of COVID-19, wide vaccination coverage, increasing herd immunity, and easing mobility restrictions. .

"In addition, several sectors have also benefited from the increase in commodity prices," he said.

For information, the export value in March 2022 was recorded at 26.50 billion US dollars and this value increased significantly by 29.42 percent on a monthly basis or by 44.36 percent on an annual basis.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's trade balance in March 2022 again experienced a sizeable surplus, reaching 4.53 billion US dollars.

"The increase in exports encourages a strengthening of the current account and stronger revenue performance helps the government to consolidate its fiscal position," he said.

"In the future, the government will continue to monitor various external risks, especially the Russia-Ukraine conflict which has an impact on price increases and inflation by continuing to maintain people's purchasing power," concluded Coordinating Minister Airlangga.