While carrying out downstreaming, we continue to use local products. This will also be our new source of economic growth in the future
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The downstreaming of natural resources has become one of the new sources of economic growth for Indonesia, Deputy Minister of Finance Suahasil Nazara said during the OCBC NISP Business Forum here on Tuesday.

"We have banned natural resource exports to conduct domestic downstreaming for further processing. We are developing the domestic industry, processing them (natural resources), to improve economic growth," he explained.

Natural resource downstreaming is expected to create added value for the economy through the export of processed products of higher value and through manpower absorption.

"While carrying out downstreaming, we continue to use local products. This will also be our new source of economic growth in the future," he noted.

The government has also continued to meet ministries' and institutions' demand through domestic products, especially those produced by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), using the state budget.

Next, the transition to a green economy would also be a new source of economic growth for Indonesia.

"Indonesia's energy demand, with an increasing population and economy that continues to grow, will encourage demand for energy," Nazara said.

"This will be met with green energy, thus this will become a new source of Indonesia's economic growth," he explained.

He also asked business and financial service sector actors to maintain economic stability and growth amid the uncertainty in the global economy.

"Amid the continuous global turbulence, I would like to urge businessmen and financial service sector actors to look at our respective readiness in detail," he said.

Earlier, taking note of several positive economic indicators, Nazara projected that Indonesia’s economic growth will be between 5.0 to 5.3 percent in 2023.

The Consumer Trust Index in February 2023 was still within the optimistic zone or above 100 at 122.4, and this reading has stoked optimism for economic growth in 2023.

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Translator: Sanya Dinda S, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Sri Haryati
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