VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 4 - Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has said attracting investment and creating jobs would be key to driving economic growth in 2021.

"The key to growth, our economic growth is investment. Because it is impossible for us to drastically increase our state budget. This means that the key is in investment and creating as many job opportunities as possible,” he stated in his opening remarks at the opening of the 2021 National Work Meeting of the Ministry of Trade, from the State Palace, here on on Thursday.

The President asked that trade policies be formulated to invite investment inflows. The policies must also help recover economic sectors that contracted last year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.

“(It needs to be worked out) Which sectors have been disturbed and what to do with them? Should they be given incentives or stimuli?” he said.

The President said he hopes that the inflow of investment will also open up many jobs opportunities.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and the entry of the younger generation into the workforce pushed up the unemployment rate in Indonesia to 10 million.

“This (job creation) is what the community has been waiting for. Because there are currently 10 million unemployed in our country, both because of the pandemic and also the new workforce,” the President noted.

This year, Widodo is pushing for domestic economic growth of 5 percent.

Achieving the target would require extra hard work and policy breakthroughs, he observed.

Last year, Indonesia's economy had contracted 2.09 percent.

"The growth target in the State Budget of 5 percent must really be achieved. 2021 is a year of recovery that must be based on optimism, " Widodo remarked. (Antaranews)