Economist Wijayanto Samarin said that the economic growth of South Sulawesi Province grew by an average of two percent of national growth. This was conveyed by Wijayanto when he was the CEO of the 2022 Business Forum at Saoraja Wisma Kalla, Makassar, Tuesday (4/10/2022). He explained, in 2019 South Sulawesi’s economic growth was 6.9%, while the national economic growth was 5.0%. During the Covid-19 pandemic, South Sulawesi’s economic growth fell minus 0.7%, compared to the national economic growth of minus 2.1%. Then in 2021, South Sulawesi’s economic growth began to increase by 4.7% while nationally it was only 3.7%. He explained that the average economic growth is always two percent higher than the national growth. If withdrawn before 2011, South Sulawesi's economic growth has several times reached 10%. Even if we look closely at the central government's data, the poverty rate has decreased. "The achievement of South Sulawesi has succeeded in boosting Indonesia's situation," he said.
South Sulawesi is also able to show economic resilience. The standard deviation of economic growth reached 2.5%, only slightly above the national figure of 2.15%. “This resilience is due to South Sulawesi’s large market, complete products, and South Sulawesi’s strategic role as a hub for Eastern Indonesia,” said the Independent Commissioner of PT Indosat Tbk. Wijayanto also explained that the graph of Indonesia’s economic growth in 2000 was flat unlike the charts of other countries. This flat graph, according to him, illustrates that by nature the Indonesian economy is more resilient than other countries. “When other countries fluctuate, we are more stable,” he said. Wijayanto also tries to calculate the standard deviation of GDP Growth (2000-2021) from economic growth. Indonesia's standard deviation is only 1.17%, while other countries such as the United States are 1.87%, China at 2.49%, Europe at 2.50%, Thailand at 3.09%, Malaysia at 3.11%, and Singapore at 4.12%. "Indonesia is more resilient than other countries, as can be seen from the lower standard deviation of GDP growth," he said. According to him, this happens because the Indonesian economy depends on domestic problems. In terms of inflation, Indonesia's inflation is 4.7%, while developed countries reached 10%. The question arises from this incident, whether resilience is something positive or not. Wijayanto said that Indonesia's resilience is quite good. So there is no need to be afraid of a global crisis because Indonesia's exports and imports add up to only 39% of GDP. "We don't trade much with other countries, if other countries are turbulent, we can take it easy," he explained. Only when there is a global opportunity, Indonesia fails to take advantage of opportunity. "So when other recoveries skyrocket, we'll just be stable. This is our homework on how to take advantage of global opportunities when the economy improves," he concluded.
