24 February 2023
Ishbir Mujahid Adha, S.E., M.Si.
The Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Sumatera Utara (FEB USU) held an economic seminar and discussion with the theme "Indonesia's Economic Prospects and Challenges in 2023" on Friday (24/02/2023). On this occasion, FEB USU invited speakers from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Bank Indonesia Institute (BI INS) who will open the discussion through the presentation of the perspective of Indonesia's economic development as well as opportunities and challenges in the future. Keynote speakers included IMF Senior Residence Representative, Mr. James P. Walsh, and Assistant Director of Bank Indonesia Institute, Dr. Prayudi Azwar. This activity was attended by around 270 academics, lecturers and students from fourteen universities in Medan City. The implementation of this activity is deposited by Bank Indonesia and PTPN IV
The Seminar and Discussion on Indonesia's Economic Prospects and Challenges in 2023 was opened by the Dean of FEB USU, Dr. Fadli, S.E., M.Si., who gave a speech as well as officially opened the activity.
"Economic activity in Indonesia has been felt to be recovering and moving as it should. Nevertheless, Indonesia must remain united to face major economic challenges in 2023 which are strongly influenced by weakening global economic trends, such as access and prices of energy sources, debt vulnerability and high inflation."
The Dean of FEB USU delivered an opening message that Indonesia has begun to recover but the global economic pressure is very large and will have an impact on the economy in Indonesia. We need to see this as an opportunity and challenge that Indonesia will face in the future.
The next session was a session from the Bank Indonesia Representative Office for North Sumatra Province represented by Mrs. Aegina Siswana Surbakti, who explained the opening of the 4th Sumatranomic. Suamteranomic has lasted for three years which has provided productive results to support economic policy-making in Sumatra. Sumatranomic is present as an effort to increase the role of academics and practitioners as well as economic observers to explore and emerge creative ideas as well as convey them as recommendations for economic development.
The implementation of this activity was moderated by FEB USU academic, Dany Perdana Sitompul, MM., who introduced the two speakers to all participants. On the first occasion, the resource person from the IMF Senior Residence Representative in Indonesia, Mr. Walsh, explained the global economic problems and Indonesia's position in responding to global economic pressures.
"In the midst of severe global economic pressure, Indonesia has excellent fundamentals in responding to and facing current economic challenges"
Mr. Walsh conveyed in English his impression of the Indonesian economy which is considered strong in responding to the global economic shocks that occurred. Indonesia has a prudent economy in responding to global economic turmoil and maintaining its economy to minimize the effects that occur and begin to move towards recovery in various economic sectors.
The next session continued with a presentation from the assistant director of the BI Institute, Mr. Prayudi Azwar, who discussed the Indonesian economy and Bank Indonesia's policies in responding to global economic turmoil.
"We know that our economic challenges ahead are quite heavy, but when we have the right instruments we can face economic challenges to optimize Indonesia's economic growth"
He believes that the Indonesian economy is quite strong, in 1998 Indonesia faced a monetary crisis that resulted in economic shocks but still managed to survive, the Global Economic Crisis in 2008 did not have a major impact on Indonesia and as of 2010 Indonesia has a great resistance to becoming the number 3 country in the world that experienced good growth during that period. The flow of funds into Indonesia at that time became very large.
Bank Indonesia continues to innovate to increase transactions, especially digital transactions in the current era by introducing QRIS which facilitates digital transactions and is expected to encourage transaction volume and speed to support economic turnover and growth in the future. In addition, BI-Fast is also prepared to help with clearing so that it is cheaper and helps better economic growth.
In the discussion session, FEB USU Academician, Dr. Beby Karina Fawzeea Sembiring, asked discussion questions related to the role of household consumption in boosting the economy. Ease of transactions does encourage the acceleration of transactions such as in digital transactions, but it is necessary to pay attention to the consumption carried out whether it is for consumption from domestic producers or not. Growth will be expected if the transaction is domestic.
A student from Dharmawangsa University, Dewi Anggraini, proposed a discussion related to the role of students to contribute to the economy. Students can play a role in the augmented side to provide added value in our environment by maximizing our ability to master all the skills needed to build a role in the future. The next stage is the improvisation of the skills we have acquired to apply them in life and help economic growth.
Maysarah Anastasya Silalahi from Medan Area University stated that "Golden Indonesia" in 2045 makes a claim based on demographics that Indonesia will have excellent human resources. Unfortunately, Indonesia's demographics also need to ensure that future generations must be the pillars of the economy, not liabilities of the state. This challenge is a challenge for students throughout Indonesia so that they can become assets in the future, not a liability for the state. In other words, students need to "seize" existing knowledge and develop it in the future and become prime assets. Students must be pro-active and take on roles to prepare themselves as assets. Students should avoid "waiting" for knowledge to be given from lecturers, but must "seize" the knowledge.
The discussion also started from the moderator of the activity who asked what happened to the US or Europe, why global economic growth tells more about China or India. What Indonesia needs to watch out for from the global economy. China's contribution to the global economy is increasing and becoming very large and this can have an impact on the global economy itself. India from the other hand has a very rapid growth so that it also contributes greatly to the growth of the world economy.
Dr. Eko Cipta Purnama, an ENT Specialist, who is also an economic observer, sees that the health outlook also has an effect on the economy, not just an export-import story. The health aspect also plays a big role in economic growth. As people become more concerned about health, the less fossil fuels are used, pollution can be reduced and improve public health in general. Currently, government subsidies are more focused on the fuel because the community is still very dependent on the fuel. If people's behavior can change, it is likely that subsidies will shift to health. On the other hand, Indonesia allocates a huge amount of funds for vaccination to improve the health of the Indonesian people in protecting people from COVID. This is a very important policy to divert economic growth through health protection.
