Speaking at the 2024 Outlook and Performance of the Ministry of Trade on Thursday (4/1/23,) Indonesia’s Minister of Trade, Zulkifli Hasan, said the government is optimistic about the global economy in 2024, and the Ministry of Trade is targeting the value of Indonesia’s non-oil and gas exports in 2024 to grow by around 2.5-percent to 4.5-percent, according to reporting from Antara News.
“The government will make efforts to encourage non-oil and gas exports in accordance with the target of 2.5 to 4.5-percent in 2024, despite the challenges of world commodity prices that are still quite flat,” the minister noted.
As an effort to realize the export target in 2024, the Trade Ministry will develop new non-traditional markets, such as India, Pakistan, South Africa, Nigeria, and Mexico, say Antara News, adding that during the period from January to November 2023, the value of non-oil and gas exports to India had reached USD 18.45-billion.
Hasan noted that Asia is a large market that can be explored, and that’s why Indonesia needs to create products that have added value, such as through downstreaming. “The mainstay (products) are still CPO (crude palm oil), coal, nickel, and of course, manufacturing products and forest products,” noted the minister.
Cumulatively, Indonesia’s export value during the January to November 2023 period was USD 236.41-billion, down 11.83-percent as compared to the same period last year, say Antara News.
The decline in the cumulative export value was due to the weakening of non-oil and gas exports and a 0.67-percent decline in oil and gas exports. The three main destination countries for non-oil and gas exports are China, the United States, and India.
Antara News report that the Ministry of Trade also stated that the value of Indonesia’s imports during the January to November 2023 period reached USD 202.78-billion, a decline of 6.80-percent as compared to the previous year.
“The Trade Ministry continues to encourage export performance by providing ease and legal certainty,” Hasan remarked.
Source: Antara News
