BPS: 59% of Indonesia Economy Concentrated in Java

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian central statistics agency, BPS, said that some 59 percent of Indonesia's economy is still concentrated in Java Island. The figure is obtained from Java's contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2019.

In 2018, the island's GDP contribution was 58.48 percent.

"So in structure, it has not changed much," BPS chief Suhariyanto said in a press conference at the BPS Office, Jakarta, Wednesday, February 5.

After Java, the biggest contributor to Indonesia's economy is Sumatra. In 2019, its contribution reached 21.32 percent, slightly down from 2018's  21.58 percent.

Kalimantan and Sulawesi followed with 8.05 percent and 6.33 percent, respectively. In the lowest spots are Bali and Nusa Tenggara (3.06 percent), as well as Maluku and Papua (2.24 percent).

Of the six islands, the highest growth in 2019 was recorded by Sulawesi with 6.65 percent, exactly the same as its economic growth rate in 2018.

In 2018, islands with the highest growths were Maluku and Papua with 6.99 percent. But this year, their economy took a deep plunge to minus 7.4 percent.

Suhariyanto said the drastic decline was mainly due to Papua's weakened economy caused by Freeport Indonesia's slowing production. "In Papua, the economy was corrected by 16 percent," he said.

Fajar Pebrianto