REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PALEMBANG -- Chief Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said Indonesia's economy will grow more than five percent considering the potential Indonesia had now.
"Indonesia has promising opportunities so that its economic growth can be over 5.5 percent," the minister told reporters after his lecture on the popularization of the national entrepreneurship programs to students of the University of Sriwijaya (Unsri) here on Wednesday.
The minister stated that the promising factors included investment and commodities. His office will also develop the downstream businesses in support of economic development in the regions.
He said so far natural resources in the country had not been exploited to its maximum, but were exported overseas.
According to the minister, this is because Indonesia's human resources cannot yet support the efforts to develop downstream businesses.
Therefore, his office continued to improve the quality of human resources through education and training.
After all, Indonesia's human resources must be improved in the face of the ASEAN Economic Community. Therefore, he said, Indonesia's younger generation should continue to develop themselves through entrepreneurship programs.
Regarding economic growth, National Development Planning Minister/Chief of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Armida Alisjahbana said on Wednesday the Indonesian economy is expected to rebound in the next three years after marginally slowing down this year.
"It (the slowdown) will be for the short term because the economy will rebound in the next two or three years," she said here on Tuesday.
Armida said the national economy only grew 5.21 percent in the first quarter due to weak export performance, following a ban on the export of unprocessed minerals.
"Only mineral exports plunged. The slump will be temporary, while non-oil/non-gas exports may rebound," she added.
She expressed hope that exports will recover soon so that they can contribute to the economic growth, in addition to investment and household consumption.
Previously, Hatta Rajasa said he expected the export performance to improve soon, particularly after the economies of the United States and Japan began to show signs of recovery. Both the United States and Japan are the main markets for Indonesia's exports.
"We must work hard to prevent our exports from declining further. I am optimistic that in the second quarter our exports will recover, along with the improving economies of developed nations. Although China's growth may be corrected," he said.
The government assumed an economic growth rate of 6.0 percent in the 2014 state budget. However, the target will likely be difficult to achieve and the government is considering changing it in the revised 2014 state budget.
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