Last Year’s Positive Stock Market Performance Capital for 2023: Indonesia Minister

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The significantly positive performance of Indonesia’s stock market in 2022 will be a good capital for facing any challenging economic and financial conditions in 2023, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said.

"We hope that (the stock trade in) 2022, which was closed in a very resilient condition, will be good preparation for facing the (situation in) 2023," she said at the inaugural Indonesia Stock Exchange trading session for 2023 in Jakarta, Monday, Jan. 2.

There will be many tough challenges throughout 2023, including mitigating the impacts of global inflation, preventing a recession, as well as expediting post-Covid-19 economic recovery, she said.

Hence, the government will strive to strengthen the integrity, accountability, and credibility of various economic institutions in 2023, for instance, by issuing the Law on Financial Sector Development and Strengthening (P2SK).

Furthermore, the government has also tasked the Financial System Stability Committee (KSSK) with consistently building a strong, stable, credible, accountable, and trusted financial sector foundation in 2023.

Also read: Indonesia Central Bank Forcasts Economy May Grow 5.2 Percent This Year

“It is not an easy task, but it must be done. This task is also aimed at optimizing the huge capital market potential in Indonesia," the minister said.

On the same occasion, the chairperson of the board of commissioners of the Financial Services Authority (OJK), Mahendra Siregar, said that improving the integrity, accountability, and credibility of financial institutions must be prioritized in 2023.

He further said he expected the effort to push up the number of capital market investors, which has currently reached 10.3 million, reflecting an increase of ten-fold or one thousand percent in the past five years.

However, the number of investors is only four percent of Indonesia's total population, thus there is still a huge market opportunity to be optimized, he added.

In addition, Indonesia's market capitalization, which has reached 50 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP), or equivalent to 9,500 trillion rupiahs or $600 billion, must also be increased.

"Although our market capitalization is 50 percent of our national GDP, it is still far behind (the market capitalization of) other ASEAN countries, which has reached above 100 percent," Mahendrea added.