TEMPO.CO, Bandung - Indonesia`s stable and increasing economic growth will drive the country`s economy occupy the 4^th largest position in the world in 2050. The trend has been seen since 2016 where Indonesia’s economic growth was ranked at 8^th position, and this tends to continue increasing every year marked by the rise of the middle class in Indonesia.

This is stated in the first day of preparatory meeting of the World Conference on Creative Economy (WCCE) in Bandung, West Java. The initial stage of WCCE is officially opened today by Deputy Head of Indonesia Creative Economy Agency (BEKRAF) Rocky Joseph Pesik. The meeting is attended by countries’ representatives from various regions, international organizations, academia, private sectors, media, and government. They are expected to break down key element of the four main issues that will be further discussed at the WCCE 2018, which will take place in Bali in June 2018.

Former Finance Minister Chatib Basri in his keynote speech said Indonesia’s economic growth would shift from agricultural base to industrialization and information technology (IT) based-economy.

“The position of the Indonesian middle class is on the rise. It grows around 10% annually and there are 38 million new middle classes born between 2002 and 2016, meaning they contribute around 20% to the total growth of the entire population today. This is because the creative economy creates high added value to a product,” explained Chatib Basri.

Minister of Communications and Informatics Rudiantara sees the service sector will play an important role in economic growth of Indonesia in the future. The service sector will be developed if supported by a good and extensive IT infrastructure.

“With the increasing services sector, the needs of data will also increase. Therefore, Indonesia is building the Palapa Ring that will connect all cities and villages throughout Indonesia,” said Rudiantara.

Currently, among 13,000 islands in Indonesia, data network connection reaches only 28 cities of 58 major cities throughout Indonesia. While the need of data is increasing significantly from year to year.

“Since 2005 to 2014 there has been a jump in the use of data flow up to 45 times. The usage of data is recorded at 4.7 terabits per second (Tbps) in 2005, while in 2014 it increased to 211.3 Tbps,” said Rudy.

The three-day Preparatory Meeting for WCCE 2018 is featuring speakers including Minister of Communications and Informatics Rudiantara, Chatib Basri, Nicholas Buchoud, Daniel Tumpal Simanjuntak, British Council Country Representative for Indonesia Paul Smith, Laura Anderson, Ridwan Hasan, Dr. Surjadi, Candra Darusman, Samirah Muzaffar, Chiam Lu Lin, and BCCF’s Tita Larasati.

TEMPO