Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto would need Rp 13,528 trillion or approximately $900 billion from foreign and domestic investors if he wants to make his 8 percent growth dream come true, government estimates show.

Prabowo aims to push the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 8 percent before his term ends in 2029. This goal is ambitious, considering Indonesia's recent annual growth rate of 5 percent. Foreign direct investments (FDI) will be pivotal to Prabowo’s dream. The government has even calculated how much investment Indonesia would need and their estimates show that the country will have to keep raising its annual targets over the coming years.

“Investments play a very significant role in how we will achieve that 8-percent growth,” Investment Minister Rosan Roeslani told the Indonesia-European Investment Summit in Jakarta on Monday. 

Indonesia targets Rp 1,650 trillion in combined investments throughout 2024. The country will raise the target to Rp 1,906 trillion the following year, thus pushing annual GDP growth to 6.8 percent, government estimates reveal. As the investment target goes up to Rp 2,280 trillion in 2026, so does the annual economic growth which is expected to reach 7.6 percent by then. 

The government predicts that the economy will finally grow by 8.3 percent in 2027 as long as Indonesia amasses Rp 2,680 trillion from foreign and domestic investors that year. The Indonesian economy is set to expand at a slower pace of 8 percent in 2028 with Rp 3,116 trillion in investments, although the growth still falls within Prabowo’s target. A Rp 3,544 trillion worth of realized investment would propel Indonesia’s economy to grow by 7.8 percent in 2029.

Prabowo’s 8 percent growth target has caught the country’s international investors’ attention, including the European Union (EU). The European bloc is even optimistic that Indonesia will reach that number.

“Eight percent growth is possible. This is Asia we are talking about. China, South Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam have reached [that number]. Vietnam uses a combination of FDI and integration in the global value chain,” EU Ambassador to Indonesia Denis Chaibi told the same summit.

"... [And this is why] the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is all about integrating Indonesia into the global value chain."

Negotiations for the bilateral trade pact have long been underway since 2016. While the EU has not set a fixed deadline for the negotiations, Europe is hoping that both sides will "keep the momentum going" and rapidly wrap up the talks, according to Chaibi.