Deputy Minister Of Finance Suahasil Admits The Economy Is Slowing But RI Is Still Resilient

Deputy Minister of Finance Suahasil Nazara (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Finance (Wamenkeu) Suahasil Nazara revealed that Indonesia's economy is resilient in the midst of a global economy that is growing slowly with very high dynamics. This can be seen from the Indonesian economy in the first quarter of 2023 which grew by 5.03 percent (year on year/yoy).

During these three years, our trade balance continues to be in surplus. Our exports have good value and good growth. The inflation is good and controlled. Even the inflation release figure yesterday was not only the headline inflation that was maintained, but also the core inflation is also experiencing moderation. That's good, although we must be aware of the movement of the community. Our manufacturing PMI is increasing, expansive, "he said as reported by the official website today, Tuesday, July 12.

According to Suahasil, Indonesia's inflation was recorded at 3.5 percent (yoy) in June 2023, a decrease compared to the previous month which was at the level of 4 percent (yoy).

Meanwhile, core inflation or core inflation in June 2023 was 2.58 percent (yoy), lower than the previous month's inflation of 2.66 percent (yoy). On the other hand, Indonesia's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers (PMI) in June 2023 is at an expansive level of 52.5

Suahasil explained, Indonesia's economic structure can be seen from the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the majority driven by public consumption whose trend continues to be positive. For this reason, the Deputy Minister of Finance encourages people to consume quality by using domestic products.

"We want the public to consume domestic goods. So that their domestic production will roll, increase, create stronger domestic multipliers. This is domestic consumption, domestic production is the key," he said.

Suahasil added that domestic downstream efforts are a way to create greater added value so that it can create higher multiplier effects and income for the community.

"We see that the road has sufficient economic resilience with the hope that later our economic growth will end up at around 5 percent more. This is what we have to maintain throughout the year until the end of the year," he said.

For this reason, he continued, the APBN will continue to be the main instrument to protect the public through optimizing state spending with good governance. Suahasil emphasized that all APBN expenditures are managed properly, starting from how to budget, how to do the spending, to how to realize it with standards.

There is a governance standard and there is a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) performance. So the output of state spending must be measurable. We want to ensure that with all governance, budgeting, governance of expenditure itself, governance from audits, inspections, and supervision goes well," he said.

In the future, the government remains committed to keeping the state budget running on the track so that it gives a signal to investors that the government is able to manage the state budget well to keep Indonesia's economy resilient amid global uncertainty. "We maintain its macroeconomic condition and we maintain the state's financial condition. So towards the end of the year, we make sure that the 2023 state budget will run well. This signal is what we have to build. A credible signal, a credible signal," he concluded.