As Bali reopens its borders after an 18-month hiatus, how will Bali regain its economic momentum? What are the drivers of future growth and economic resilience?

ACI’s recent webinar titled “Bali’s Roadmap to Recovery: Post-Pandemic Economic Strategies”, hosted on Thursday, 21 Oct 2021 in collaboration with Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, tackled this issue in depth. Speakers from ACI and representatives from the government, business, and academic sectors touched on a broad range of topics ranging from the effect of the pandemic to the digitisation of the economy.

Key Takeaways

• Findings from ACI research on Bali’s economic development and the progress of the National Medium-Term Development Plan include a structural pivot to diversify Bali’s economy away from tourism and into digital innovations, particularly in the agriculture and creative sectors.
• The Vice Governor emphasized the integration of digitalization in regional innovations and the economy and the importance of productivity growth in Bali’s leading sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, and local MSMEs.
• Bappeda’s representative¹ echoed this, adding that long-term goals include transforming the economy, comprising diversification of the economy to quality tourism (e.g. eco-sustainable services; digitalization solutions) and agriculture technology (e.g. downstream agriculture processing; organic agricultural systems).
• APINDO’s representative² highlighted the need for a speedy economic recovery and raised concerns faced by MSMEs, such as the increasing costs of cross-border exportation. He also suggested the relaxation of international travel procedures and policies.
• Undiksha’s representative³ noted the volatility in the exportations of commodities and consumer products during the pandemic year. She highlighted key economic recovery strategies: 1) economic diversification; 2) digital payment via QRIS⁴; 3) acceleration of the tourism sector recovery.

By Wen Chong CHEAH

Note:
^[1] Head of Regional Development and Planning Agency (Bappeda) of Bali
^[2] Head of Board of Trustee of DPP APINDO Bali
^[3] Lecturer from Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha
^[4] Quick Response Code Indonesia Standard

Read our research paper: Assessing Indonesia’s Provincial Development Policies: The Case of Bali

Find out more about our Chart of the Week: The pandemic in hindsight: Bali’s impetus for economic diversification

View and download the presentation slides below: