March 2, 2023
JAKARTA – Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto has urged foreign investors to keep coming to Indonesia and invest in the country despite the intensifying political competition ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Airlangga said that Indonesia had gone through so many election cycles before that political tension was no longer an issue and that the country’s economy had proven to be insulated from politics.
“Be confident in your investment here as the government can give guarantees. Also the legislature gives guarantees,” Airlangga said in a speech to a seminar on Tuesday.
Airlangga, who also served as the chairman of the country’s third-largest political party Golkar, said that the flurry of political activities in the lead-up to polling day had in fact contributed to Indonesia’s economic growth.
The senior minister was also optimistic that Indonesia could register impressive economic growth this year, on the back of last year’s achievement.
“Last year, the economic growth was 5.3 percent year-on-year, the highest in the past 10 years,” Airlangga said.
In the December Indonesia Economic Prospect (IEP) report, the World Bank cut Indonesia’s 2023 economic growth outlook to 4.8 percent from its September prediction of 5 percent.