Governor of Bank Indonesia, Perry Warjiyo, emphasised on Tuesday (5/3) the need for Indonesia to remain optimistic about domestic economic growth while staying vigilant due to uncertain global conditions.
“Indonesia will continue to be one of the best-performing economies in the world this year and beyond,” he said. “However, we still have to be vigilant because of global uncertainty.”
He expressed his belief that Indonesia will be able to pursue structural reforms and maintain high and stable domestic economic growth.
He said that Indonesia’s good economic performance, with growth of above five percent recorded post-pandemic in 2022 and 2023, was the result of sound coordination between various stakeholders and the application of sustainable and prudent policies.
“We continue to implement fiscal and monetary policy prudently. We are also pursuing structural reforms and fostering strong cooperation between the central bank and the government,” he added.
He explained that Bank Indonesia’s policy direction remains pro-stability to ensure inflation is controlled and the rupiah exchange rate moves stable through policy mix implementation, such as money market development, economic inclusion, and the green economy.
In addition to the policy mix, he affirmed that the central bank has decided to maintain the benchmark interest rate at six percent to maintain inflation and exchange rates.
“We are looking for room to lower the benchmark interest rate in the second half (of 2024) if inflation is under control. We believe that the rupiah will appreciate in the second half,” he stated.
Warjiyo said that his side strives to facilitate financial and banking digitalisation to boost Indonesia’s economic performance.
Indonesia is a country with the highest level of digitalisation in the world as shown by the number of e-commerce transactions reaching Rp500 trillion (around US$31.6 billion) in 2023.
