Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), M.S. Hidayat together with members of the Advisory Board and the Executive Board of Kadin Indonesia met with Indonesian Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani to discuss the latest economic developments and the 2024 Draft State Budget, at Menara Kadin Indonesia (23/8/2023).

MS. Hidayat said that current and future global and domestic economic developments require attention and need to be addressed together, both the government, the business world and the community.

"The business sector needs an overview of the government's strategic policies, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, the decline in global economic growth, climate change and future economic prospects," he said.

The World Bank, according to its report in the June 2023 edition of the Global Economic Prospect (GEP) estimates that the global economy will grow by 2.1 per cent in 2023. This projection is higher than the outlook in the previous report which was only 1.7 per cent. Even so, the outlook for economic growth will still not improve. Even for 2024 the slowdown will continue to overshadow and economic growth is estimated at 2.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, for the domestic economy, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) report, the Indonesian economy in the second quarter of 2023 grew 5.17 per cent on an annual basis (year-on-year/yoy), higher than the achievement in the first quarter of 2023 which grew 5.04 per cent.

"This signifies Indonesia's current economy. However, all developments in the global constellation must be a common concern because they will definitely have an impact on the Indonesian economy," she said.

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani said Kadin and the business world contribute to the country's financial portfolio. "Indonesia's economy is quite resilient. Commodities have a big impact. There is also another side regarding macro policies that are sometimes very specific".

According to him, Indonesia has been tested in unusual situations but can get through it well. "But this cannot be used as a guarantee, because challenge after challenge will change," Sri said.

In the recovery process, she said, quite a lot of adjustments must be made. "We will apply various policy tools, fiscal policy which each country is different. Some have minimal doses but maximum results, some are the opposite," Sri said.

In the recovery situation, she continued, many countries in the world experienced an inevitable deficit, high inflation, high interest rates. "However, within two years our deficit is below 3 per cent and this is quite remarkable," she said.

According to him, there is currently optimism that emerging countries will grow above world growth. The world is heading towards sharing prosperity. There is a new polar power, not just the United States, China or Russia, but there is a middle power that is quite calculated.

On the same occasion, Sri explained the posture of the 2024 State Budget. The 2024 deficit is estimated to reach Rp 522.8 T, much lower than in 2020 which reached Rp 947.7 T. Then the state revenue in 2024 is estimated to reach Rp 2781.3 T, higher than Rp 1647.8 T in 2020.

He continued, 2024 budget financing reached Rp 522.8 T, lower than in 2020 which reached Rp 1193.3 T. Then state spending in 2024 reached Rp 3304.1 T, higher than in 2020 which reached Rp 2595.5 T.

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