Productivity key to escaping middle-income trap: Finance Minister

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati emphasized that boosting productivity can help the country escape the middle-income trap.

"The key player is productivity. Investment and domestic production factors should create more productive and higher quality output," the minister noted in a statement from her office on Tuesday.

According to Indrawati, the demographic bonus in Indonesia can help boost productivity by improving the quality of education and health.

She noted that these two aspects are the main pillars for increasing the added value of all production factors.

Indrawati highlighted that the efforts included providing scholarships through the Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) and increasing the provision of health services and equipment.

She emphasized that apart from improvement in the quality of human resources, the development of quality infrastructure should also be strengthened.

"During President Joko Widodo's tenure, infrastructure is one of the national priorities, ranging from energy, railways, highways, airports, ports, seaports, telecommunications, and digital technology sectors," the minister revealed.

However, success in improving the quality of human resources and infrastructure is also inseparable from the support of appropriate regulations and policies, as well as synergy between the central and regional governments, she added.

Indrawati underscored the need to strengthen decentralization and regional autonomy to present the best public services. Evaluation of institutional arrangements is also deemed necessary to improve the efficiency of the allocated resources.

In the journey to becoming a high-income country, the minister emphasized that Indonesia should also improve development elements.

"We should be able to improve our performance in growth, quality, and job creation, in terms of the quality, inclusiveness, and our ability to protect Earth with a greener and lower carbon development process," she concluded.