Creativity Takes Center Stage

INDONESIA’S BEST kept secret may be its remarkable creativity—contributing over 7% to the GDP. In 2016 Indonesia’s creative forces produced Rp 922 trillion worth of goods and services, up from Rp 852 trillion in 2015. Triawan Munaf, head of the staterun creative economy body Bekraf, noted that in the past three years the figure has annually risen by a whopping minimum of Rp 70 trillion. He expects last year the figure may hit the Rp 1 trillion mark.

- Taufik Darusman

In 2016 Indonesia’s creative forces produced Rp 922 trillion worth of goods and services, up from Rp 852 trillion in 2015. Triawan Munaf, head of the staterun creative economy body Bekraf, noted that in the past three years the figure has annually risen by a whopping minimum of Rp 70 trillion. He expects last year the figure may hit the Rp 1 trillion mark.

The creative economy is also providing much-needed jobs in a country where seven million of its 125 million strong workforce are unemployed. In 2016 some eight million Indonesians were involved in the creative economy—over 65% in Java—mostly in the culinary, fashion and crafts subsectors. The figure should rise significantly as new players produce animation films, apps and games.