Bappenas suggests West Sumatra begin optimising economic source diversification

Padang (ANTARA) - The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) suggests that the West Sumatra Provincial Government begin optimising the diversification of economic sources to avoid dependence on specific sectors alone. “We need to carry out broader diversification (of economic sources),” said Deputy for Regional Development at Bappenas RI, Medrilzam, in Padang on Wednesday, during the break of the Development Planning Deliberation (Musrenbang) for the West Sumatra Provincial Government’s Work Plan (RKPD) 2027. Medrilzam observed that the West Sumatra Province has so far focused on agriculture and plantations to support economic growth. Therefore, Bappenas suggests that the region begin boldly seeking other sources to not rely solely on agriculture and plantations. According to him, West Sumatra must not only produce raw materials but must begin creating derivative products. Besides supporting the downstreaming promoted by the central government, this step also encourages regional independence. “West Sumatra has established a holistic growth architecture as a blueprint for economic development,” said the Governor. The former Mayor of Padang stated that the main pillars of this blueprint consist of agroindustry downstreaming, strengthening tourism and the green economy, as well as digitalisation of SMEs as a new growth engine. With this approach, West Sumatra targets a significant increase in export earnings from Rp20 trillion to Rp80 trillion, with the potential to absorb up to 240,000 workers by 2029.