Indonesia has been classified as an upper-middle-income country, the government has announced.
“Today we have officially become a world middle class country,” said the Minister of Trade, Muhammad Lutfi, in a virtual session on Wednesday 23rd February.
He wants Indonesia to continue to work to let out of the middle-income trap and enter the high-income country group. The key is that the government wants to increase the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita three times, from the previous US$4,349.5 in 2021.
“Our second challenge is how we can triple our GDP per capita which is around US$4,000-12,500,” said Lutfi.
Becoming an upper-middle-income country in 2019
Lutfi recounted the government’s achievements since 2019. In that year, he said that Indonesia had entered the upper-middle-income country group initially.
Indonesia fell into a lower-middle-income country in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It then rose again to become an upper-middle-income country in 2021.
“This is an extraordinary achievement. After 1998, the per capita achievement was only US$463. In the 20 years to 2018, our economic growth was 10 times or 1,000 percent,” he said.