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Indonesia needs 6% GDP growth annually to be fifth-biggest economy by 2045
Former Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said that Indonesian economic growth is stuck at 5 percent because of no real breakthrough in manufacturing industry.
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On the move: People use a pedestrian bridge to cross the road during the morning rush hour in Jakarta on Nov. 29, 2022. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
I
ndonesia needs to raise its economic growth to an average of 6 percent annually to maintain the right pace to become the world’s fifth-biggest economy by 2045, which has also been President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s grand ambition during his term.
Realizing the dream would mean Indonesia having a GDP of US$7.3 trillion and per capita income of more than $25,000. By today’s World Bank’s standards, the figure would place Indonesia among other high-income countries, such as most Western nations.
Former finance minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said on Thursday that Indonesia needed to do more, as the country’s economy had been stuck at 5 percent growth for the last five to 10 years. He cited no real breakthrough in manufacturing industry as one of many prominent causes hampering the dream.
"The economy still depends on consumer spending. Exports, very unfortunately, still depend on commodities,” Bambang told reporters in an online briefing.
Read also: Govt targets up to 5.7 percent growth, low deficit in 2024
Being unable to grow at that pace means Indonesia is under constant threat of falling into the middle-income trap, a term used to explain a country that is unable to graduate into a high-income country, often due to a lack of competitiveness and productivity.
Several countries can stay in the middle-income group for years if not decades.
