Although the COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed the Indonesian economy a lot, the digital economy is currently emerging as a new force in the Indonesian economy.
In fact, the implementation of a policy of restricting people's activities and mobility has actually become a driving factor for them to switch to digital services.
Through a virtual event organized by Lazada entitled 'Lazada Study Panel Discussion 2021: Talent Development for Indonesia's Digital Economy' Wednesday, (2/3/2022) Deputy for Coordination of the Digital Economy, Employment, and MSMEs, Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Republic of Indonesia, Mohammad Rudy Salahuddin explained that in 2021 Indonesia's digital economy will be the largest and the fastest in Southeast Asia.
He also mentioned that e-commerce is the pillar of the value of digital economic transactions in Indonesia with a growth value of 52% year on year.
"Overall, in 2021 the value of the digital economy will reach USD 70 billion. It will grow significantly by 49% year on year and in 2025 the value of the digital economy is predicted to reach USD 146 billion or a 20% annual growth rate," he explained.
He also cannot deny that the COVID-19 pandemic has become an accelerator of the digitization process. He conveyed, at a limited meeting (ratas) on the downstreaming of the digital economy where President Joko Widodo delivered several directions in order to encourage the growth of the digital economy.
Several directives from the Ratas include strengthening digital economy regulations so that they can be reactive and adaptive considering that this sector is developing very dynamically. So it is hoped that regulations can be accommodative without limiting the innovation space of business actors.
"Ensuring alignments with domestic business actors, preventing predatory pricing and maintaining the penetration of imported goods in e-commerce so as not to kill domestic business actors," he said.
"As well as regarding the preparation of digital talent because often with the growth of the digital economy sector, more skilled workers will be needed who support this growth," he continued.
Rudy also said that the huge potential of the digital economy in Indonesia also has challenges, one of which is the problem of preparing Indonesian digital talent.
The demographic bonus that Indonesia has if it is not accompanied by an increase in the quality of human resources will actually become a boomerang for the Indonesian economy. The workforce is still dominated by 56% with junior high school education and below as a result, the digital skills of the workforce are also limited.
"This also causes around 23 million workers in Indonesia to be vulnerable to being shifted by automation. Nationally, our digital competitive index is still relatively low, ranking 53 out of 56 countries," he said.