VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Bank Indonesia (BI) encourages the downstreaming of spice products in order to penetrate the global halal market. It is one of the three steps for developing Islamic economics and finance, namely Go Global, Go Digital, and Go Agriculture.

"There are three that we want to focus on in developing the Islamic economy and finance. Namely Go Global, Go Digital and Go Agriculture," said BI Governor Perry Warjiyo when opening the Java 2022 Regional Sharia Economic Festival (FESyar) in Surabaya, Thursday (8/9/2022).

Perry said, for Go Global, BI encourages the downstreaming of spice products in order to penetrate the global halal market. Currently, Indonesia has almost 30 thousand types of spices, and fulfills 11 percent of the world's spice needs.

“Spices have been a commodity of the archipelago since the past, present and future. We will rebuild the spice route from the archipelago to the world," said Perry.

For Go Digital, BI encourages cooperation in marketing halal products through e-commerce. In addition, it also utilizes digital payment systems such as QRIS and BI Fast.

"As for Go Agriculture, BI provides support for Islamic boarding schools to develop agricultural and horticultural products, in order to strengthen food security," said Perry.

Bank Indonesia's move received appreciation from the Governor of East Java, Khofifah Indar Parawansa. Khofifah emphasized the importance of empowering business actors, especially MSMEs, in the development of the sharia economy.

“MSMEs still need coaching and funding. Moreover, East Java currently deploys almost 80 percent of logistics to 16 provinces in Eastern Indonesia," said Khofifah.

The city of Surabaya, East Java is indeed the center of the Java Regional Sharia Economic Festival (FESyar). For this year's FESyar, the theme is “Java Sharia Economic and Financial Synergy to Strengthen Inclusive Java's Economic Recovery”.

The 2002 Java Regional FESyar became a series of activities towards the 9th Indonesia Sharia Economic Festival (ISEF). The event will be held in Jakarta in October. (RRI)