VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati described the 2022 State Budget as a fiscal instrument that helped recover the national economy amid the threat of global recession and geopolitical risks.

She noted that the world experienced the threat of recession and fluctuations in food and energy prices, which caused the worst increase in inflation on record in 40 years.

"The condition of global uncertainty, of course, affects and threatens the Indonesian people, the Indonesian economy, economy and finance. Because the world is indeed interconnected," she said at the 5th Plenary Meeting of the House of Representatives (DPR) here on Tuesday.

Indrawati informed that the year 2022 saw complications in the form of worsening geopolitical rivalries, such as the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

She said that 2022 was also the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had an enormous impact on the world, including Indonesia.

The 2022 State Budget was used to protect the community through several programs, such as the national economic recovery (PEN) program that focused on handling health, community protection, and economic recovery, the minister added.

She noted that Indonesia's economy managed to grow 5.3 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year, while the world grappled with the highest inflation and a very rapid and extreme increase in interest rates in just 12 months.

The national economic growth figure exceeded the target of 5.2 percent.

Indonesia also managed to reduce the poverty rate from 9.71 percent to 9.57 percent. In addition, she continued, the open unemployment rate declined from 5.86 percent to 5.49 percent.

"This is an amazing situation. Economic recovery occurred evenly in all sectors and all regions in Indonesia," she highlighted.

According to her, economic recovery is proceeding quickly and consistently, thereby boosting Indonesia's gross national income (GNI) per capita. The minister said that the GNI increased by 9.8 percent to reach US$4,580 per capita in 2022.

This, she said, led to Indonesia being categorized as an upper-middle-income country again.

"We are grateful that Indonesia has been able to protect its people and effectively recover the economy by using the State Budget instrument," she said. (Antaranews)