National retail industry has recovered from COVID-19 effects: Minister

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita stated that Indonesia's retail industry has recovered from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its growth has crossed the pre-pandemic level.

"As we see the COVID-19 pandemic was over, praise be to God, we see our retail industry has recovered to the pre-pandemic level and better than our 2019 record," the minister stated here on Thursday.

Kartasasmita said the industry recovery proved that the residents' purchasing power for products sold in the industry continues to increase.

Moreover, Bank Indonesia's real sales index (RSI) showed the index score had reached 214.1 points by February 2024, increasing 6.4 percent year-on-year.

The retail sector performance was bolstered by growth of the food, beverage, and tobacco sectors, which increased by 9.1 percent year-on-year, he remarked, adding that the millennials and the middle class contributed to the growth of the three sectors.

"Indonesia's retail market share is dominated by the middle class having a high purchasing power and the millennials having a greater consumption habit," Kartasasmita explained.

Meanwhile, the minister highlighted that new modern retail stores provided opportunities for small and medium industries to become suppliers for the retail stores to expand the reach of their products.

"The government has enacted a regulation to supervise the management of traditional markets, shopping malls, and modern retail stores, for which some of them are required to involve small and medium enterprises (in their business activities)," he explained.

Kartasasmita also stated that Indonesia's manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) has been at an expansionary level for 32 consecutive months.

This figure was obtained by the ministry from the release of the manufacturing PMI issued by S&P Global Indonesia, stating that the value of manufacturing purchasing levels in Indonesia in April 2024 was at the level of 52.9 points.