Finance Minister Purbaya Presents Indonesia's Economy to Potential Investors in the US

NEW YORK.NIAGA.ASIA – Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa held a series of strategic meetings with various potential investors in New York and Washington DC, United States. On that occasion, Finance Minister Purbaya explained Indonesia’s macroeconomic fundamentals and fiscal strategies to a number of major investors in Uncle Sam’s country. “Basically, we explained the economic situation and our forward-looking fiscal strategies, so they are convinced that our fiscal movements or policies are on the right track,” said Finance Minister Purbaya at the Peninsula Hotel in New York on Monday (13/4). “They intend to invest in Indonesia. So, some explanations were given to them to ensure that their doubts about Indonesia can be cleared up,” said Purbaya. Finance Minister Purbaya explained that investors from the US have no doubts about the designed macroeconomic fundamental policies, but they want to confirm the current situation regarding the comfort of investing. “So they (the investors) are not in doubt, but they heard some noise that our fiscal is problematic, they confirmed that it is not true,” said Purbaya. “We explained what our fundamental policies are like and because they are smart people, they can fully accept what we explained is in accordance with economic theories,” added Purbaya. The Finance Minister also received positive input that the Indonesian government should improve communication with US investors, given that Indonesia’s macroeconomic foundation is considered very good. “Regarding fiscal policy, they are already convinced that the direction of the policy is correct, they think that some international rating agencies were too quick to make changes to Indonesia’s rating, such as giving a negative outlook, where the change was made when the latest economic data was not yet complete,” added Finance Minister Purbaya. When asked what strategy to make investors confident in investing in Indonesia, Purbaya explained that the economy must continue to grow according to the targets in the state budget. “We will continue to ensure that the economy grows according to the targets we mentioned. If Indonesia can grow 5.5 percent in the first quarter and remains strong in the second quarter, this will immediately make them more confident to increase their investments in Indonesia,” said Purbaya. “So we focus on ensuring that our policies are correct, the implementation is according to the design we made,” concluded Finance Minister Purbaya.