TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Financial Services Authority (OJK) chairman Wimboh Santoso said that Indonesia is projected to be at the top position for the digital economy in Southeast Asia by 2025.

“With digital transactions' value reaching US$124 billion or Rp1,736 trillion,” said Wimboh at the opening of the national financial technology or fintech month on Thursday, November 11. He claimed the projection was voiced by tech giant Google and investment giant Temasek.

According to Wimboh, Indonesia has enormous potential in developing the fintech industry given its huge population of 272 million people spread over 17,000 islands, of which approximately 137 million people are working-age population.

As many as 175 million people or 65.3 percent of the population have access to the Internet. In 2020, 129 million Indonesians used e-commerce with a transaction value of Rp266 trillion.

At present, Indonesia is ranked fourth after China, Japan, and the United States in terms of the number of people who make online transactions through e-commerce sites.

Indonesia's high economic potential has encouraged many start-up actors to emerge, covering various fields, such as health-tech, agritech, edutech, and fintech.

“The rapid development of technological innovation in the financial sector is attributable to the support of the balance of policy to the community needs and the development of the financial industry as well as siding with the consumer protection and law enforcement,” the OJK chairman concluded.

Read: Jokowi: Indonesia May Become World's Seventh-Largest Economy by 2030

MUHAMMAD HENDARTYO