The Indonesia Opportunity
Imagine your business entering the post WWII American marketplace, armed with hindsight and today’s technology, and you begin to grasp the potential.
The Indonesian Opportunity continues to grow into the world’s commercial consciousness across a broad swath of industries – but don’t expect it to stay in the background for long. Indonesia, SE Asia’s largest economy, has a GDP projected to reach US$ 1.23 trillion by the end of 2022.
Indonesia’s 275.4 million people now include more working-age people (15-64) than ever before with an average age of 29.7 years old. Indonesian household spending already accounts for about 59% of GDP (US household spending hovers around 70%).
The proportion of the working-age people is expected to peak between 2025 and 2030 – a demographic dividend which has already attracted the tech sector that sees it as the next major growth market after China and India. Indonesia is the fourth largest smartphone market in the world, but that fact is only a small part of the story. The entire population, young and old, is in the middle of the most dynamic digital transformation in the world.
Geographically, the Indonesian archipelago is located on one of the world’s major trade routes and has extensive natural resource wealth distributed over 17,000 islands straddling the Indian and Pacific Oceans – an area that spans the size of the United States.
Indonesia’s overall economy comprises over one third of ASEAN economic output and operates with significant autonomy in a working democracy.
The ASEAN Economic Community
Formation of ASEAN
On 8 August 1967, five Foreign Ministers from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – sat down together in the main hall of the Department of Foreign Affairs building in Bangkok, Thailand and signed a document. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was born.
