TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Democracy key to economic growth and fairness, deputy finance minister says
Change Size
Deputy Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara (middle) met with businessman Sofjan Wanandi (left) and Jusuf Wanandi (right), one of the founders of the CSIS think tank during The Jakarta Post's 40th anniversary, the Democracy Dialogue seminar held at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta on Monday, August 7, 2023. (The Finance Ministry)
I
ndonesia’s economic resilience in recent years has a lot to do with its democracy, a top government official has said, adding that it also helps make for a fairer economy.
Deputy Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara told an audience in Jakarta on Monday that democracy was important for a country’s economic growth and also served as a tool to equitably share that growth among the population.
“So [democracy] is not just there to maximize the growth,” Suahasil said during The Jakarta Post's 40th anniversary Democracy Dialogue seminar held at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta.
Read also: GDP growth beats expectations, buoyed by domestic spending
Rizal Mallarangeng, executive director of the Freedom Institute, said at the same event that democracy was a "forever home" for nations. For many, it went hand in hand with the economic development.
In the case of Indonesia, nominal GDP reached US$1.31 trillion in 2022, up from $95.45 billion in 1998, according to World Bank data.
Those numbers showed, Rizal argued, that the country’s path to democracy was important for its economic growth. He claimed the country’s 25 years on the path of democracy were one of the reasons for its economic successes.
