Creative sector drives Indonesia's growth as investment jumps 32 pct

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia recorded a 32.23 percent growth in creative economy investment, reaching Rp183.01 trillion last year, underscoring the sector's strong prospects as a pivotal engine for national economic growth.

Secretary of the Creative Economy Ministry Dessy Ruhati stated here on Tuesday that the investments were dominated by the digital application sub-sector, which recorded a value of Rp54.18 trillion.

Meanwhile, investments in the crafts sub-sector stood at Rp35.47 trillion, followed by fashion at Rp34.15 trillion, culinary arts at Rp29.57 trillion, and advertising at Rp6.64 trillion.

"Moving forward, our main challenge is to distribute these investments across various regions by strengthening the ecosystem, enhancing human resource capacity, protecting intellectual property, and expanding access to financing," Ruhati said.

She highlighted that this strong investment performance aligns with the growing acceptance of Indonesian creative products, such as fashion, crafts, and culinary, in the global markets.

She noted that the export value of fashion products reached US$16.3 million, while crafts recorded US$12 million in exports.

The creative economy sector also contributes significantly to generating employment for the younger generation, making it a strategic sector for addressing national job creation challenges.

"These employment opportunities will lead to increased value-added products and national economic growth," Ruhati remarked.

To further boost the sector's prospects as a new economic engine, the Ministry is implementing the Hexahelix approach. It serves as a collaborative synergy involving the government, businesses, academia, communities, financial institutions, and the media.

The collaboration aims to enhance business capacity, broaden intellectual property protections, streamline valuation processes, expand market access, and evaluate the sector’s economic impact.

"Indonesia lacks neither ideas, talent, nor creativity. What we must build together is a system capable of transforming this creativity into a national economic strength," Dessy emphasized.

Looking ahead, the Ministry has set a creative economy investment target of Rp133.74 trillion to Rp157.65 trillion to further bolster national economic growth by 2027.

Within the creative economy sector next year, the government has also targeted to achieve a 5.8 percent GDP growth rate, a 5.5 percent export growth, a total export value of US$29.39 billion, an employment of 26.58 million workers, and an investment growth range of 6.2 to 7.6 percent.

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Translator: Fitra Ashari, Uyu Liman

Editor: Azis Kurmala

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