Creative Economy Trade Balance Surplus 60 Percent Due To Export Growth, Menparekraf Sandiaga: The Biggest Contribution From The Fashion Subsector

Menparekraf Sandiaga S. Uno during a Working Meeting with Commission X DPR. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, stated that the trade balance of creative economy products in the first quarter of 2022 experienced a surplus of 60 percent. This record is fairly good because it is in the midst of increasing the COVID-19 variant of the Omicron in February-March 2022.

"The largest creative economy export destinations are the United States of America 3.31 million US dollars or 37.78 percent, Switzerland 1.09 million US dollars or 13.19 percent, Singapore 384.13 million or 4.63 percent", he said during a Working Meeting with House of Representatives Commission X quoted by Antara, Monday, July 4.

For the first quarter of 2022, he continued, creative exports grew 56.16 percent faster than the national export growth of 35.25 percent with the largest contribution from the fashion sub-sector of 56.53 percent or about 4.68 million US dollars and crafts 38.05 percent or 3.15 million US dollars.

"Regarding the added value of the creative economy, it will increase gradually, but it will be significant in 2021 by IDR1,191 trillion, in 2022 it is targeted to be IDR1,236 trillion, and in 2023 IDR1,279 trillion", said the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy.

Regarding the number of foreign tourists visiting this year, there are around 603,358 people with the largest countries from Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, India, and the United States.

"The top three destinations are almost 90 percent Bali, Jakarta, and Batam, Riau Islands, which are just starting to develop. The majority of tourists visit with (among other things) a visit visa on arrival for 30 days and visa-free visits", he said.

As is known, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) targets foreign tourist visits of 1.8-3.6 million people and 7.4 million people in 2023. For domestic tourists, the target is 544-621 million this year and 642 million next year.

This year the tourism foreign exchange value is estimated to be in the range of 0.47-1.7 billion US dollars and close to 6 billion US dollars in 2023.

"Regarding the realization of the contribution of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of tourism, it is targeted at 4.3 percent in 2022 and will increase by 4.4 percent in 2023", said Sandiaga.