Bank DBS Indonesia ready to support Indonesia's economic recovery plan

Indonesia.06 Jan 2022
Indonesia, 06 Jan 2022 - Indonesia is ready to leave 2021 behind with a number of significant achievements that reflect the seriousness of the government's efforts, especially in the health and economic sectors.

This has strengthened (public) trust in the Indonesian government's programme to ensure public health and economic recovery.

In the health sector, data from the Ministry of Health show that until the second week of December 2021, 103 million citizens have been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, another 146 million people have received one dose.

In total, 251.14 million doses of vaccines have been injected. The figure is expected to reach 300 million by the third week of January 2022.

"Our vaccination programme has reached 38.16 percent of the total population," said Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin during a meeting with the House of Representatives on Tuesday (14/12).

Although the 70 percent vaccination target has not been achieved and the vaccination programme has only been carried out in 13 of Indonesia’s 33 provinces, the government's hard work in tackling the pandemic has received international recognition. As a result, Indonesia is included in the list of the top five countries with the highest vaccination rates in the world.

Currently, there are only five countries with higher vaccination rates than Indonesia, namely China (2.6 billion doses), India (1.3 billion doses), the United States (484 million doses), and Brazil (319 million doses), according to Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati in an event last week.

In the economic sector, the recovery trend is also evident. Bank Indonesia predicted that Indonesia’s economy will grow 4.7-5.5 percent in 2022.

According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Indonesia’s economy grew 3.51 percent in the third quarter of 2021 (YoY). The health services sector and social activities recorded the highest growth, at 14.01 percent. Exports of goods and services also recorded the highest increase, at 29.16 percent.

Deputy Minister of Trade Jerry Sambuaga has stated that there are strong indicators that suggest Indonesia's economy will grow. It is indicated by, among other things, Indonesia's October 2021 trade surplus of US$5.73 billion.

"Cumulatively, in the period January 2021 to October 2021, there was a surplus of US$ 30.81 billion, the highest in the last 10 years," said Jerry.

DBS Bank Senior Economist Radhika Rao in a recent discussion also expressed optimism about Indonesia’s economy. According to him, there are three important things that can accelerate Indonesia's economic growth rate in 2022.

First, Indonesia will fullly vaccinate 99 percent of the total adult population by March 2022.

The achievement in the vaccination programme and the improvement in the economic recovery rate, he said, would lead to the second condition, namely Indonesia’s ability to offer more investment opportunities in the downstream commodity sector and to accelerate digitalisation to achieve a more stable economic growth.

“Third, Indonesia’s satisfying fiscal balance and the steps taken to lower the tax ratio in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will strengthen the loan ratio compared to other countries in Asia”.

Radhika also noted that the vaccination programme is one of the keys to the successful handling of the pandemic in Indonesia. The massive and structured vaccination programme will increase the mobility of Indonesian citizens and this will in turn restore economic activities in Indonesia.

“If these achievements can be maintained, the expectations of economic recovery, and the movements of other components such as household consumption, government consumption, investment, export and import activity, can be met,” said Radhika

Bank DBS Indonesia has always supported various government efforts to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic through participation in collective efforts to ease the burden of people suffering from the pandemic.

In July 2021, Bank DBS Indonesia donated 1,000 oxygen concentrators to communities affected by Covid-19 through Indonesia’s Ministry of Health.

Bank DBS Indonesia, in collaboration with Garda Pangan, one of the social entrepreneurs it supports, has donated Rp131.2 million worth of packages of aid to 5,252 affected citizens comprising the elderly, widows, construction workers, online motorcycle taxi drivers, pedicab drivers and shelters for ex-leprosy sufferers in Surabaya, Malang, and its surrounding areas. The programme was held from July 2020 to June 2021.

Earlier in 2020, Bank DBS Indonesia donated medical equipment and food packages worth 2.5 million Singapore dollars.

Internally, Bank DBS Indonesia provides facilities to enable employees to work more effectively, either from home or from the office. The bank has also strengthened its information and technology capabilities to benefit from the digital transformation taking place in various industrial sectors.

Earlier predictions have indicated that technologies that support digital transformation, e-commerce and sustainable and eco-friendly economy will have higher priority in 2022.

To that end, Bank DBS Indonesia introduced Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) in 2017. The bank has also been appointed a green sukuk distributor. Proceeds from sukuk issuance will be used by the government to fund various sustainable eco-friendly projects.

Bank DBS Indonesia has also provided export financing and sustainability loan in Indonesia. This is in line with the aspiration of the general public for a sustainable industrial ecosystem to create a better life in the future.

To support financial inclusion and digitalisation in banking, Bank DBS Indonesia will be one of the 22 banks to apply the first phase of the BI-FAST payment system.

The BI-FAST system was designed to provide safe, efficient, and real time national retail payment infrastructure. BI-FAST allows customers to make instant transfers by merely using the recipient’s mobile number or email address.

Bank DBS Indonesia has charged a BI-FAST transfer fee of Rp2,500 since December 2021. Through the programme, corporate customers can transfer up to Rp250mio in real time and will only be charged a Rp2,500 fee per transfer.

For the next step, Bank DBS Indonesia will focus on individual credit transfer and will serve debit transfer, bulk credit, and request for payment starting in 2022 as Bank Indonesia prepares for the full implementation of the BI-FAST system.

The payment system is expected to be the key to a successful implementation of financial inclusion, digitalisation, and to reach every layer of society so that the system could give huge benefits for its customers. Please refer to https://www.dbs.id/id/sme-id/aics/home for further research and Asian Insights articles.

 

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Recognised for its global leadership, DBS has been named “World’s Best Bank” by Euromoney, “Global Bank of the Year” by The Banker and “Best Bank in the World” by Global Finance. The bank is at the forefront of leveraging digital technology to shape the future of banking, having been named “World’s Best Digital Bank” by Euromoney and the world’s “Most Innovative in Digital Banking” by The Banker. In addition, DBS has been accorded the “Safest Bank in Asia” award by Global Finance for 13 consecutive years from 2009 to 2021.

DBS provides a full range of services in consumer, SME and corporate banking. As a bank born and bred in Asia, DBS understands the intricacies of doing business in the region’s most dynamic markets. DBS is committed to building lasting relationships with customers, and positively impacting communities through supporting social enterprises, as it banks the Asian way. It has also established a SGD 50 million foundation to strengthen its corporate social responsibility efforts in Singapore and across Asia.

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