“The great activity in Indonesia’s online business is in line with the activity of Indonesians in social media. Jakarta is even known as the ‘Twitter capital of the world’,” said Agus on Wednesday.

Citing data from market research firm Statista, Agus said some 24.74 million Indonesians were using the internet.

The immense growth potential of the national digital economy was also indicated by 78 percent growth of the fintech industry in the last two years, he added.

However, he said many things needed to be addressed to make online business more efficient, including the quality of internet services, where Indonesia lags behind other countries.

Agus also noted that Indonesia had a low internet penetration rate compared to neighboring countries.

According to data from social marketing agency We Are Social, the internet penetration in Indonesia reached 51 percent in 2016, behind that of Malaysia and Thailand with 71 percent and 67 percent, respectively.

Agus said the optimal utilization of the digital economy would help improve prosperity in Indonesia.

“We believe if the ongoing digital revolution can be well utilized, it will lift Indonesia’s annual economic growth to 7 percent, because it will increase efficiency and productivity in the country’s economy,” he said. (mrc/bbn)

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