Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mahendra Siregar said that maintained export growth and public consumption made Indonesia successful in maintaining the momentum of economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19. "So the combination of exports that we are trying to maintain and the strength of the domestic market will be key for us. Not only can we ward off international risks but in fact maintain the momentum of economic recovery," Mahendra said in the LPEI webinar "Resilient Women in Sustainable Exports" which was monitored in Jakarta, Friday. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) noted that in the first quarter of 2022 Indonesia's economic growth reached 5.01 percent year on year with exports growing up to 16.22 percent year on year and household consumption growing 4.34 percent year on year. He assessed that Indonesia's success in taking advantage of the momentum of rising commodity prices to encourage exports while maintaining domestic consumption caused Indonesia to quickly recover from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Why in 1998, 2000, 2001 the Indonesian economy took almost 10 years to turn around, and now it's relatively fast one and a half years, one of the drivers of the extraordinary economic recovery this year and last year was exports," he said. In April 2022, Indonesia's exports were recorded to reach a value of 27.32 billion US dollars or grew 47.76 percent year on year driven by exports of coal, palm oil and its derivatives, as well as steel and its derivatives. Good synergy between ministries and institutions to deal with COVID-19 also accelerates the recovery of the national economy so it needs to be continued, including in maintaining exports going forward. "We need to encourage this synergy for sustainable economic recovery. This needs to be strengthened for exports, especially when we want to support exporters to be successful or to support exporters whose capacity and access to markets still need to be increased," he said.
