Universitas Gadjah Mada
Faculty of Economics and Business

Facing a situation of uncertainty and global economic challenges during the pandemic, the Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada (FEB UGM) together with Bank Indonesia held a Seminar and Public Lecture (SinarKU) on Friday (12/3/2021). This time, SinarKU raised the topic of "Bank Indonesia's Innovation and Strategy in Facing Global Economic Challenges in a Pandemic Era". This webinar has moderated by Shima Dewi Mutiara Trisna, S.E., M.Sc., SinarKU presented speakers, namely Perry Warjiyo, M.Sc., Ph.D, as Governor of Bank Indonesia.

Rimawan Pradiptyo, M.Sc., Ph.D, Head of the Department of Economics FEB UGM, gave a speech to open the SinarKU event. "Thank you for attending this public lecture, Mr. Perry Warjiyo. In this lecture, we will listen to the strategies implemented by Bank Indonesia and what will be done in the future in the midst of this uncertain situation.”, said Rimawan.

Raising the topic of Bank Indonesia's Innovation and Strategy in Facing Global Economic Challenges in a Pandemic Era, Perry Warjiyo, Governor of Bank Indonesia, explained about global problems and their impact on the Indonesian economy, how to synergize national policies and the direction of the policy mix to restore the economy and maintain sustainable growth stability.

“Pandemics are the challenges that we have never seen and experienced before, be it in scale, impact, or the variety of theories, policies and experiences that we undertake. Life is full of problems, that's why we are becoming a leader to solve the problem and believe that every problem there are many solutions, so you can be a leader”, said Perry.

Perry explained that we are faced with five global challenges including the normalization of monetary and fiscal policies in developed countries, the scaring effect of the Pandemic on Corporate and Financial System Stability, the expansion of digital payment systems between countries and the risk of crypto assets, the increasingly strong demands of the green economy and finance from developed countries, as well as the widening gap and the need for financial inclusion.

According to him, the improvement in the domestic economy is expected to continue in stages. “Indonesia's economic growth in 2021 is predicted to remain within the range of Bank Indonesia's projection at 3.2%-4.0% driven by increased mobility in line with accelerated vaccinations, the opening of wider economic sectors, and continued policy stimulus. , explained Perry.

The national digital financial economy, according to Perry, is increasing rapidly due to the digitalization of the payment system, and the increasing preference and acceptance of the public for digital technology increasingly encouraging the rapid pace of digital economic transactions, accelerating the development of fintech, and digital banking in the future. Therefore, Perry said that there are five policies to synergize in economic recovery.

"Among them are fiscal-monetary stimulus, acceleration of financial sector transformation, economic and financial digitalization, and acceleration of real sector transformation. To achieve that, the conditions that must be achieved are the synergy of vaccination acceleration and the opening of priority sectors,” said Perry.

Bank Indonesia's policy support for national economic recovery includes external resilience through Yield flexibility and NT Stability in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, sequencing of exchange rate, liquidity and interest rate stabilization policies in 2022, as well as coordinating with the government to control inflation, fiscal financing, and determine priority sectors, particularly for the manufacturing and tourism sectors.

Bank Indonesia also focuses on strengthening international policies, developing Islamic economics and finance, and developing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). MSME development is carried out by clustering, increasing capacity, and accessing financing facilities, and organizing KKI for MSMEs Go Export and Go Digital. In addition, Bank Indonesia is also committed to synergizing in improving the MSME and tourism sectors.

"Bank Indonesia supports the proud national movement made in Indonesia and proud to travel in Indonesia". close Perry.

Reportage : Sony Budiarso/Kirana Lalita Pristy