VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said to push the export of halal products to Islamic countries that are members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

"We need to encourage the export of our halal products by taking advantage of Indonesia's membership in the OIC Islamic state organization forum," she said at the FREKS Islamic Economics Expert Association (IAEI) event in Jakarta, on Monday.

Sri Mulyani, who is also the IAEI Chairwoman said that the export of halal products to the OIC countries in 2018 was $45 billion or 12.5 percent of Indonesia's total trade, which reached $369 billion.

Sri Mulyani said Indonesia could increase exports of halal products to OIC countries because they have a large Muslim population and their demand for goods and services is continuous.

"We can also improve and enter the non-OIC countries," she said.

Sri Mulyani said that the total expenditure of the Muslim population in the world, which amounts to 1.8 billion people or 24 percent of the world's total population, is roughly $2.2 trillion. 

The number includes purchases of food, medicine, lifestyle, and various other things according to the Islamic teachings.

"This expenditure also has a sizeable growth of 5.2 percent," she said.

She added stated that Indonesian halal products have a large international market share.

"With this rapid growth, the Islamic economy is actually an important part of the global economy," she said.

The Finance Minister expects the exports of halal products can continue even during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite challenges such as potentially reduced demand.

"COVID-19 affects the economic performance of countries in the world. So it will definitely affect their capability and demand for Indonesian export goods," she said. (Antaranews)