STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT. House Budget Agency Chair Said Abdullah in a joint meeting with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, the Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor, and the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Chair highlighted the problem of unemployment in Indonesia, which is dominated by Generation Z, according to Statistic Indonesia (BPS) data which shows that almost 10 million of the age group are unemployed, not in school, not working, or not taking part in training (not in employment, education or training/NEET).
Chief Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in Singapore to pursue stronger bilateral ties in trade and investment. Both officials were in the city-state to attend the IPEF forum.
During the meeting, Airlangga expressed gratitude for the U.S. government’s support for Indonesia’s bid to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Indonesia has established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the United States. Airlangga also presented investment opportunities in the government’s data centers.
“Indonesia has a special economic zone exclusively for data centers in Batam, utilizing a renewable energy grid. We hope the United States will support the ongoing development of the data center and fiber optic network in Indonesia,” Airlangga said.
Raimondo welcomed the opportunity and mentioned that many companies are eager to get involved in Indonesia’s data center development. She emphasized the importance of receiving full support from the Indonesian government in terms of ease of doing business, according to a press statement from Airlangga’s office.
She also noted that her entourage included 23 American investors who will be attending the Clean Economy Investor Forum as part of the IPEF. Those investors have expressed interest in opening businesses in IPEF partners, particularly Indonesia, the statement said.
In a House’s Plenary Meeting, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati estimates that investment in 2025 will grow in the range of 5.2% to 5.9% year on year (yoy).
In line with this projection, Sri Mulyani warned of a number of risks that would haunt Indonesian investment in the first year of Prabowo and Gibran’s administration: the global interest rates, geopolitical tensions, and climate change.
She also talked about the current risk of trade war between the U.S. and China. “Each country now implement industrial policies to secure their respective economies and industries,” said Sri Mulyani.
Indonesia’s ambassadors to India and Russia say authorities there hope to see Southeast Asia’s largest economy join BRICS to give the group of major emerging economies a stronger voice on the global stage.
Indonesian Ambassador to India Ina Krisnamurthi told The Jakarta Post that Indonesia had shown its leadership through roles such as Group of 20 president for 2022, ASEAN chair for 2023 and host of the recent World Water Forum.
Similarly, Indonesian Ambassador to Russia Jose Tavares spoke of potential benefits of membership. “BRICS is a forum in its own right,” Jose told the Post on Wednesday, adding that it offered an alternative to dependence on established institutions.
Minister Airlangga offered various investments in sustainable infrastructure projects before investors in the IPEF Clean Economy Investor Forum 2024. He said, having an investment target of IDR1,650 trillion in 2024, the Indonesian government continues to encourage increased infrastructure investment and take advantage of various regional cooperation momentum in sustainable development.
Demand for the kind of high-grade nickel used to make electric vehicle batteries is set to outpace supply in the coming years, a metals expert said at an industry conference in Indonesia this week.
Allan Ray Restauro, a metals and mining analyst at energy researcher BloombergNEF, told the Indonesia Miner event in Jakarta that output of so-called Class 1 nickel is unlikely to accelerate rapidly enough to catch up with growing demand, even as production of lower-quality varieties of the metal surges.
