VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The International Monetary Fund -IMF) called Indonesia's economic growth relatively good amid the heat of trade tension and the global economic slowdown. The IMF estimates that Indonesia's economy will still grow above 5 percent this year. The latest IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) report projects global economic growth this year stagnates at 3.7 percent. The IMF also revised the 2019 global economic projection from 3.9 percent to 3.7 percent. Meanwhile, Indonesia's economy in 2018 is predicted to grow 5.1 percent or lower than the IMF projection in April 2018 which was 5.3 percent. IMF Chief Economist, Maurice Obstfeld at a press conference at the IMF Annual Meeting - World Bank in Nusa Dua, Bali Tuesday (9/10) said that Indonesia's economic growth projections were revised as the global economy declined. Because Indonesia will be affected by tightening monetary policy in the world, oil prices and trade wars. Even so, he saw Indonesia's economic growth is still quite strong. Based on the WEO report, Indonesia which groups the IMF into ASEAN-5 has the third highest economic growth. The ASEAN-5 countries in question are Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Indonesia's economic growth rate is higher than Malaysia and Thailand until 2019. Obstfeld also said, the IMF also views Indonesia to be able to maintain a consistent growth rate. He said, the Indonesian economy can grow higher if it is able to take advantage of all the potential it possesses. Indonesia has population growth. Indonesia will get a lot of tax revenue. According to Obstfeld, the government's seriousness in building infrastructure is considered to be a lure of investors to invest in Indonesia. He emphasized that Indonesia's economy is still strong because the rupiah exchange rate against the currencies of trading partner countries other than the United States had depreciated by only about 4 percent since the beginning of the year. The depreciation against the US dollar reaches 10 percent. In addition, the inflation rate is considered to be maintained amid the weakening exchange rate. Previously, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde said that Indonesia's economy has been managed so well that the IMF does not feel the need to provide loans to Indonesia. The same confirmation was made by Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani at a press conference in Nusa Dua, Bali on Monday. According to her, Indonesia will not borrow money to the IMF because the loans are only given to countries that are experiencing a balance of payments crisis. According to Minister Sri Mulyani, the government has already anticipated measures in facing global risks, including running a mixed policy between Bank Indonesia and the Ministry of Finance. She believes that Bank Indonesia's response to US interest rate increases is able to maintain market interest in investing in Indonesia.