Election Year 2024, Investment Considered to Remain Positive

Jakarta – Indonesia will enter an election year in 2024. Concerns related to a less conducive national investment in the political year have begun to emerge. Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Financial Services Authority (OJK) Mahendra Siregar raised his voice regarding this matter.

Mahendra said that Indonesia as one of the largest democracies in the world has held five direct presidential elections. This, according to him, is enough to convince investors of the political and social stability in Indonesia when the election year arrives.

“This is the fifth democratic election and presidential election in Indonesia, so if my expectations should be on the basis of the 5 times we have done this can provide assurance that we can do it safely,” Mahendra said while attending the 20th Infobank Banking Service Excellence Award 2023: Crime and Risk Prevention in Financial Sector, held at Shangri La Hotel Jakarta, Tuesday, June 20, 2023.

“And that track record makes Indonesia effectively the largest presidential democracy in the world, even bigger than the United States. Although the population of the United States is larger than Indonesia, in terms of the percentage of voters we are larger than any country that adheres to presidential democracy,” he said.

Furthermore, he explained that the overall performance of the economy and financial industry in Indonesia was maintained well. In fact, he said, the growth of the banking industry specifically is better now than before the pandemic.

“Alhamdulillah, the national economic condition is well maintained, guarded by the trade balance. Although not as big as the surplus last year, our trade balance is still in surplus. And the support for national economic growth has started shifting to the consumption and investment sectors rather than exports,” he said.