Prabowo Likens Indonesia Economy to Rwanda, Ethiopia
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18 December 2018 20:14 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto likened the economy of Indonesia to three African countries. According to him, the country’s income per capita did not differ than conflict-hit countries.
“We are at the same level with Rwanda, Afghanistan that is experiencing war up to now as well as Chad, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso that does not have a sea,” said Prabowo during his speech in the Gerindra National Conference in Sentul, Monday, December 18.
Prabowo denied that the total income of Indonesian people reached US$4.000 or equal to Rp57.9 million per year. According to him, the figure was calculated from the substitution of the income of the richest people which recorded at 1 percent, then spread fairly to all communities. Gerindra patron chief mentioned that he had the data from the former Finance Minister in the New Order era, Fuad Bawazier.
Thus, based on Prabowo and his team calculation, the state income per capita amounted to US$1.900 or Rp27.5 million per annum. “The state debt is recorded at around US$600 or Rp9 million. So when your child is born, his debt is already 9 million. And so, our asset is actually US$1.300 per capita,” Prabowo explained.
Based on the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the annual per capita income of Indonesia in 2017 was Rp51.8 million, increased by 8.19 percent from the last year at Rp47.9 million. Compared to ASEAN countries, according to BPS, Indonesia ranked seventh with the economic growth at 5.07 percent.
Further, based on International Monetary Fund (IMF), Cambodia experienced the highest growth among ASEAN, which was 6.95 percent, followed by Laos PDR 6.83 percent, Vietnam 6.81 percent, Myanmar 6.72 percent, the Philippines 6.67 percent, Malaysia 5.90 percent, then Indonesia.
According to IMF, Indonesia is one of Asia Pacific countries that has an important position with its relatively stable economic growth.
Countries mentioned by Prabowo are currently experiencing conflict with a chaotic economy condition due to war. In 2018, the per capita income of Rwanda this year amounted to US$1.854, Afghanistan US$1.804, Ethiopia US$1.729, Chad US$1.768, and Burkina Faso US$1.703.
