"One of the government's efforts to continue to maintain the momentum of national economic growth is by accelerating digital-based economic transformation," he said in Jakarta on Friday.
A digital-based economic transformation will help continue the country's growth momentum since the value of Indonesia's digital economy has reached US$77 billion in 2022, and is expected to continue to increase and touch US$146 billion by 2025, Hartarto noted.
He said that the digital-based economic transformation will take advantage of various existing potentials, such as the number of Internet users, which stood at 204.7 million or 73.7 percent of the population in February 2022.
The next is mobile cellular connected to the Internet, with 370.1 million users or 133.3 percent of the population and the daily time spent using the Internet being 8 hours 36 minutes.
"That gives Indonesia a distinct advantage in moving toward digital economic competition, especially in the ASEAN region," the minister said.
He informed that the value of the digital economy in the ASEAN region is estimated to reach US$330 billion in 2025, thus it is an opportunity that must be optimized by Indonesia.
The government continues to make various efforts to seize opportunities in the digital economy, such as preparing competitive digital talent with an estimated need of nine million by 2030, he noted.
This step will be carried out through the Cyber Creation Program, Digital Talent Scholarship, and Digital Leadership Academy as well as the Pre-Employment Card Program, he remarked.
In addition, the government has also made efforts to build a data center, which is the most important digital infrastructure in the short term.
"Various challenges to optimizing the digital economy must be resolved, including infrastructure, human resources, digital literacy, regulation, and a more conducive business climate," Hartarto disclosed.
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Translator: Astrid Faidlatul H, Resinta S
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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