Indonesia was already one of the major contributors to global GDP.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Finance Ministry has predicted that Asian developing countries will soon account for 90 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP).
"Based on the Asian Development Bank`s statements, the contribution of Asian developing countries to global GDP has reached 50 percent," Deputy Finance Minister Mahendra Siregar said here on Tuesday.
He stated that Indonesia was already one of the major contributors to global GDP. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also predicted that the country's national economic growth of 6 percent was a sign of "the rise of new economic constellations".
"The new balance in geoeconomics will influence geostrategy, so Indonesia will enjoy a higher status at the regional and global level," Siregar said.
"But this will take some time because Indonesia is still in a transition phase and relies heavily on domestic purchasing power," he added.
However, Siregard pointed out that domestic consumption helped the country bounce back from the 1997-98 economic crisis.
"Therefore, we must manage domestic consumption sustainably," he explained.
"We encouraged people to trust in local products, so we successfully boosted the national consumption level. This helped mitigate the negative impact of the global economic crisis. If we did not encourage the consumers, the economy would have been badly hit," Siregard said.
He noted that investments fuelled the nation's economic growth during 2011-12.
"Obviously, investments have largely contributed to national income, leading to increased labour absorption and production capacity," Siregard stated.
"The benefits of increased investment will not be reflected immediately but will definitely show in the coming years when the investments turn into production," he added.
Based on Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) data, investments in Indonesia increased by 27 percent in the past nine months.
"The investments increased because Indonesia is one of the only two countries which could maintain economic growth during the crisis," Siregar said. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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