Jakarta Globe are reporting that according to Airlangga Hartarto, Indonesia’s Chief Economic Minister, Indonesia’s economic growth in 2022 was better than most G20 countries, but is still far behind the world’s largest oil exporter Saudi Arabia.
Indonesia’s economy climbed 5.31-percent in 2022 according to government data, while the UK recorded 4.1-percent growth, the US had 2.1-percent growth and Japan had just 1.4-percent economic growth last year. Saudi Arabia’s economy however, soared to 8.7-percent economic growth in 2022, say Jakarta Globe.
“Our economic growth is one of the highest in the G20. We are losing to Saudi Arabia which has been relying on the oil economy. How dare they cut the oil production quota amidst a situation like this so they can still enjoy premium oil prices,” Airlangga told the 2023 Economic Outlook forum hosted by B-Universe Media Holdings in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The minister was alluding to the decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies to chop quotas. OPEC+ in October decided to slash their production quota by 2-million barrels of oil per day for the next 14-months. The quotas will remain in place until December 2023.
At home, the economy is back to a pre-pandemic level. Indonesia’s economy expanded by 5.02-percent in 2019 but shrank by 2.07-percent a year later after the Covid-19 pandemic struck the Southeast Asian country. Indonesia’s economy then slowly climbed by 3.69-percent in 2021 and then by 5.31-percent a year later. The 5.31-percent that Indonesia saw in 2022 is among the highest figures that Indonesia has posted in a decade, according to Airlangga.
“Indonesia’s government spending came negative last year, but if only we could push the spending, our economic growth would be even higher,” Airlangga said. He added that the
state capital project, IKN Nusantara, and the downstream industry policy, among other things, could spur the economy in 2023. Indonesia banned the export of unprocessed nickel ores in 2020. The resource-rich country will do the same to other ores such as tin, copper, and bauxite, say Jakarta Globe.
“We have begun the state capital this year and will continue to become a long-term program. Infrastructure is a boom to the economy. A large-scale infrastructure project like Nusantara is set to give an impetus to the economy,” Airlangga said.
Source: Jakarta Globe
