"We will ensure that our high economic growth will continue in 2023. We will maintain all factors supporting our national economy, including consumption," Indrawati stated at the national economy webinar observed here Sunday.
To maintain the public consumption level, the minister said the government would allocate Rp104 trillion (US$6.65 billion) for food resilience programmes to ensure food prices not to inflate.
The government would maintain the purchasing power of vulnerable groups through social assistance programmes, basic food package distribution, and subsidies, including the subsidy for energy whose prices surged in 2022.
"We strive to maintain the people's purchasing power even if our subsidies tripled. At the same time, we must also ensure that our budget remains healthy to enable us to continue helping the people. Even to address inflation, we have done much," Indrawati expounded.
She noted that to preserve the economic recovery momentum, the government is committed to increasing the smallholder business credit (KUR) amount to Rp370 trillion with a low-interest rate of three percent.
"We will continue utilising the state budget to maintain the economic growth momentum," the minister said.
Indrawati also expressed hope that the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and other research agencies would be able to embark on new research projects to increase the productivity of food commodities, either on the seeding, fertilisation, or watering aspects.
Earlier, Indrawati echoed her optimism that Indonesia would record overall economic growth of 5.2–5.3 percent in 2022, with a possibility of growth in the range of 5.0 percent in the fourth quarter.
"Our economic growth has also started to recover and the momentum is strengthening,” she said in a press statement in relation to the plenary cabinet meeting, which was followed online from Jakarta on Monday (January 16).
The improvement in Indonesia's economy has been visible as revealed by the fact that investment has recovered, exports are still high, and imports are recovering to support the manufacturing industries.
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Translator: Sanya Dinda S, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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