Prabowo Announces Indonesia Must Prepare for Difficulties
President Prabowo Subianto has stated that Indonesia must be prepared to face various difficulties arising from global conflicts, including the ongoing war in the Middle East.
According to him, current global geopolitical dynamics can impact various sectors, so the government and all elements of the nation need to be ready to confront potential challenges.
“We are facing difficulties with our determination to overcome them. We are not concealing the difficulties; we are not pretending difficulties do not exist,” said Prabowo, as quoted from a live broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel on Monday (9 March).
He stressed that the government will not turn a blind eye to the various challenges arising from the global situation.
Conflicts in various regions worldwide, particularly in the Middle East, according to Prabowo, have the potential to trigger economic pressure and global uncertainty that could also be felt by Indonesia.
Nevertheless, Prabowo believes Indonesia possesses substantial strength to confront these various challenges. He cited national unity as the nation’s principal asset in facing crises.
“Due to the war in the Middle East, we must be prepared to face difficulties. But again, we are grateful that in fact the Indonesian nation possesses strength. We possess great strength,” he said.
The President expressed optimism that Indonesia is capable of navigating various global challenges and even emerging from crises in a stronger condition.
“United we are strong; united we shall face all difficulties; we shall emerge from all crises,” the President concluded.
The geopolitical situation in the Middle East has triggered impacts on the global economy as world oil prices have surged.
Recently, the rupiah exchange rate officially breached 17,000 per US dollar in trading on Monday (9 March).
Bhima Yudhistira, Director of the Centre for Economic and Law Studies (Celios), warned that the surge in global oil prices has the potential to strain the state budget by hundreds of trillions of rupiah.
He estimated that the state budget deficit could widen to 314 trillion rupiah if global oil prices continue to rise.
“The surge in oil prices has caused the worst ‘fiscal apocalypse’ in pressure since the COVID-19 pandemic,” Bhima told CNNIndonesia.com on Saturday (7 March).