The 11^th MIF, a collaborative event between Bank Mandiri and Mandiri Sekuritas, underpinned by the Investment Ministry, aims to provide an opportunity for investors to listen to and understand a range of economic and investment issues in Indonesia.

According to Bank Mandiri’s treasury and international banking director, Panji Irawan, the 2022 MIF is a highly strategic forum to understand what the economic situation will look like and what business strategy should be applied in the upcoming economic recovery.

“The MIF will explain various issues and reveal business potential in line with the economy, which is expected to accelerate in the next several years and provide participants with access to information and to gain first-hand information on various insights and perspectives from prominent speakers, including cabinet ministers, the Bank Indonesia governor, corporate leaders and professionals in their respective fields,” said Panji.

The peak event, Macro Day to be held on Feb. 19, will discuss strategies and policies that the government and Bank Indonesia will take in order to balance between economic stability and spurring the acceleration of the economic recovery amid the policy normalization challenges that many countries, especially developed ones, are facing. The policies of accelerating economic recovery include structural reforms and also digital transformation, as well as environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies to achieve sustainable economic growth.

 “We are all optimistic that the economic conditions in 2022 will be better than in 2021. Statistics Indonesia published yesterday data on Indonesia’s economic growth for the fourth quarter of 2021 and also the country’s GDP throughout 2021,” Panji remarked.

He went on to say that Indonesia’s GDP grew 5.02 percent year on year (yoy) in the fourth quarter of 2021, higher than the growth of 3.51 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2021 in line with the government’s steps to relax the public activity restrictions (PPKM), increased public mobility, the increase in household purchasing power and continually improving consumer confidence. Throughout 2021, the domestic GDP saw positive growth of 3.63 percent following the constriction of 2.07 percent in 2020.

An economic team at Bank Mandiri predicts that Indonesia will see economic growth of 5.17 percent yoy, higher than that seen in 2021. “And yet, we have to stay alert to the various challenges that lie ahead this year and next year,” he reminded.

“One of the biggest challenges we have to face is normalizing monetary policy, or the rise in interest rates, a policy that other countries will set, particularly the United States,” they said.

The policy will be taken to contain the significant rise in inflation as a result of the impact of the supply chain disruption and also the increase in global commodity prices.

Global dynamics will potentially have an impact on the Indonesian economy, which is still in the process of recovery. On the other side, fiscal room for speeding up the economic recovery is becoming increasingly limited, with the consolidation process toward achieving a fiscal deficit below 3 percent of GDP by 2023.

The 2022 MIF will discuss a variety of strategic topics and will serve as a forum for communication between decision makers, investors and other stakeholders to understand the economic policy strategy that will be adopted to regain the recovery momentum and maintaining economic stability in the face of various risks and challenges that need to be faced in line with the 2022 MIF theme, “Recapturing growth momentum”.

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