Five Sectors Most Potential Drivers Of Economic Growth: Bappenas

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) said there are five sectors that need more bolstering in development as they are potential to sustain and accelerated the country's economic growth.

Bappenas chief Bambang Brodjonegoro said the first is the manufacturing industry in the non-oil/gas sector.

The Minister for National Development Planning said it is time for the country to revive its manufacturing industry after being in the doldrums over the past years.

"Anywhere in the world, no economy would advance without the contribution  from the manufacturing sector," he said
The agricultural sector is important, but the manufacturing sector is the driving engine for economic growth, he added.

The second most important is agricultural development especially food crop farming toward self sufficiency, he said.

 The agricultural sector is potential in contribution to reviving the country's exports.  
"Agricultural sector is important but we must not continue to export raw materials. We should develop agro-industry, that means manufacturing industry," he said.

The third is trade sector both retail and whole sale trade which would boost consumption.

The fourth is construction sector. The government should be able to encourage the private sector to take part in development, he said.

In the past two years, the construction sector has grown fairly strong by more than 6 percent that would contribute significantly to economic development, he said.

The fifth  is the information  and technology sector, the demand for which is high at present to follow the advancing technology.

"The five sectors would be the main drivers of economic growth in addition to two other sectors - finance and tourism," the minister said.

He said the financial service sector becomes important at present especially with the government mission of financial inclusion.

 Currently many Indonesians have not known much about banking business and have no bank accounts.

"This is an area that need more addressing as  with improvement in financial inclusion, the financial service  also would grow and the people's welfare would improve. They could prosper only if they have access to financial service," he said.

As for the  development of the tourism sector, the regional administrations play a central role, he said, adding, regional administration must have ambition to develop  and promote their tourism wealth.

"The Regional Development Planning Board (Bappeda), which is the one to know better about economic analysis, should be able to convince regional administrations to develop their tourism potentials which have higher multiplier effects than manufacturing industry," he said.  
In the tourism sector, small and big business players are involved  and grow at once that many jobs  would be open in various sectors  from tour guide to hotel management.

The minister said regional administrations should give priority  to three sectors for development - agricultural sector, processing industry  and trade.

The three sectors are the most potential in contribution to economic development  and creating the largest number of jobs, he said.

"The agricultural, industrial and trade sectors  are the largest contributors to Gross Regional Product  and create the largest number of jobs. Therefore, they should be in priority," he said.

He said regions depending too much on natural resource such as Sumatra  and Kalimantan, are the hardest hit  by the impact of global crisis.

Sumatra and Kalimantan have recorded progress but too slow considering their abundant natural resources, he noted.

Sulawesi  and  Nusa Tenggara recorded  a high growth  in 2016 but slowed in  in the second quarter of that year. Meanwhile a relatively stable growth was recorded  by Java, and fluctuation was recorded by Maluku  and Papua on high dependence on mineral exports.

"Sulawesi is expected to be able to maintain strong growth on big potentials in the farm, plantation and fishery sectors, and Nusa Tenggara made progress in service and tourism sector. Java's growth was driven by its manufacturing industry, while Sumatra and  Kalimantan suffered  a setback on falling prices of commodities mainly coal and palm oil," he said.

He said in general the country's economy has been well maintained , adding, this year and next year, the country is expected to be able to keep inflation at less than 4 percent. (WDY)