Bappenas Reacts to US Dropping RI from Developing Countries List

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Minister of National Development Planning or Bappenas head Suharso Monoarfa opined that Indonesia would reap benefits following its promotion to the "next grade" after the United States decided to remove Indonesia from the list of developing countries eligible to special differential treatments (SDT).

“A promotion will surely be beneficial,” said Suharso after launching a national program of the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals (P4G) in Jakarta, Monday, February 24.

According to him, the higher level will make Indonesia be treated like a developed country in negotiations of economic and financing partnerships. Moreover, Indonesia has made an initiative to help countries in the African region, he added.

Suharso elaborated that Indonesia’s promotion to a higher grade was in line with the projection that it will be among the upper-middle-income countries this year.

Previously, Bappenas projected that the archipelago would escape from the middle-income trap by 2036 as its gross domestic product (GDP) would reach up to US$12,233 per capita and soar to US$23,199 per capita in 2045.

As reported earlier, as of February 10, 2020, the US officially removed Indonesia and a number of other countries—including South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam—from the list of developing and least-developed countries. With this policy, Indonesia will no longer receive special differential treatments (SDT) available in the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.

ANTARA