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At the beginning of July 2024, Indonesia’s Statistical Agency (Badan Pusat Statistik, BPS) released the latest poverty statistics of Indonesia. We consider it worthwhile to take a close look at the data as poverty is an important indicator for assessing the country’s socio-economic situation. After all, economic activity affects society, but at the same time the economy is shaped by social processes.
Indonesia's Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education is optimistic that at least two foreign universities will open their doors in Indonesia this year after the Indonesian government had earlier decided to open opportunities for foreign, private universities to open branches in Indonesia through cooperation with local private universities.
Indonesian Minister of Research, Technology and Higher Education Muhammad Nasir said the government of Indonesia decided to open the opportunity for foreign, private universities - especially the world's leading universities - to open branches in Indonesia through cooperation with local private universities. By mid-2018 the first foreign university should be able to open its doors in Indonesia.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) kept its forecasts for economic growth in Indonesia at 5.1 percent (y/y) in 2017 and 5.3 percent (y/y) in 2018, implying it expects the trend of accelerating economic growth in Southeast Asia's largest economy to continue. The Manila-based institution mentions improvement in private investment and trade (namely expectation of rising exports) as main sources for growth of Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP) in the years ahead.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged his cabinet members to guard - or even better: to improve - household consumption in Indonesia as this would have an immediate impact on Indonesia's overall macroeconomic growth. Over the past five years, the nation's household consumption accounted for about 56 percent of Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP).
Income distribution inequality is a problem in Indonesia, one that can jeopardize social, political and economic cohesion in Southeast Asia's largest economy. When looking at the Gini ratio, which is the coefficient that measures the degree of inequality in income distribution, we see a sharp rise in income inequality in Indonesia in the post-Suharto era. Thus, democracy and decentralization created an environment that allowed for rising inequality. While in the 1990s Indonesia's Gini ratio stood at an average of 0.30, it rose to an average of 0.39 in the 2000s, and remained stable at 0.41 in the years 2011-2015 before easing slightly to 0.40 in 2016.
In order to escape the middle income trap (and become a high income country), the government of Indonesia needs to raise efforts to enhance the development of an inclusive economy by reforming the education and technology sectors as well as by combating social injustice. With a "business as usual" approach the government will not succeed in escaping this trap, says economist Faisal Basri. Indonesian society is currently highly unfair as 1 percent of the population controls 50.3 percent of the nation's total assets.
In the latest Asia Top 100 University List - which is based on the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) University Ranking 2016 - the University of Indonesia (UI) rose 12 spots to settle at 67th place. The top three universities remained unchanged with the National University of Singapore at the top of the list, followed by the University of Hong Kong and Nanyang Technological University. With Hong Kong taking up four spots inside the top 10, while China, Singapore and South Korea take two spots, each, to complete the top 10 it is clear which countries dominate Asia in terms of best university education centers.
How does Indonesia rank internationally in terms of happiness, human development, global innovation, and global competitiveness? Below we present a number of global rankings. Generally, Indonesia is ranked among the lower-medium segment, implying the nation has a long way to go before becoming an advanced economy.
Indonesia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) appreciates the 11 economic stimulus packages that have been released by the central government since September 2015. However, Kadin regrets to see that the central government does not put the issue of job creation as the basis of any package. Rosan Roeslani, Chairman of Kadin (and whose name was mentioned in the controversial Panama Papers), said all 11 packages answer to the desires of certain groups (such as investors and industries) but unemployment remains untackled.
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High youth unemployment is one of the threats that is being faced by Indonesia. Indonesia has a young population as roughly half of the total population is below thirty years of age. This means that the country contains a potentially large workforce. But this demographic bonus can turn into a demographic disaster if this workforce cannot be absorbed by employment opportunities. The World Bank recently warned against Indonesia's high youth unemployment and misplaced focus on education spending.
Imports of oil will accelerate to 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2020 if fuels continue to be subsidized by the Indonesian government. This development will seriously burden Indonesia's trade balance (and current account). In 2013, Indonesia posted a trade deficit of USD $12.6 billion in the oil & gas sector. Due to improved performance in the non-oil & gas sector, the overall trade deficit was kept at USD $4.06 billion. Besides placing downward pressure on the rupiah exchange rate, expensive subsidies also burden the state budget.
Improving the quality of basic education remains a central challenge in Indonesia. Without a good quality basic education, children will fail to acquire the skills they need to lead full and productive lives. Indonesia will then be challenged to build the human resources necessary to sustain strong economic growth. On 25 November 2013, the World Bank released a new report which explores how the quality of local governance affects service delivery and assesses the capacity of local governments to manage education services effectively.
The economy of Indonesia is booming with gross domestic product (GDP) surpassing six percent on an annual basis. And the country's strong economic fundamentals are confirmed by increasing international attention. But within the context of this economic growth it is important to take a look at whether economic growth is shared by all segments of Indonesian society. If, for example, only the higher classes of Indonesia would benefit from the economic boom, it could give rise to social issues in the future.
