Widodo touts economic success in final state address

JAKARTA

Indonesian President Joko Widodo hailed his economic track record on Aug. 16 in a final state of the nation address before he leaves office in October after a decade in power.

Widodo, more popularly known as Jokowi, will be replaced by defense chief Prabowo Subianto after serving the maximum two terms, with more than three-quarters of Indonesians approving of his rule in recent opinion polls.

He will leave office with an economic legacy of consistent growth of about 5 percent and large infrastructure projects including roads, bridges and airports aimed at better connecting the archipelago.

"In the past 10 years, we have been able to build a new foundation and civilization, with Indonesia-centered development, building from peripheries, building from villages, and building from outermost areas," he told lawmakers in capital Jakarta.

Widodo, raised in a bamboo shack in a riverside slum on Indonesia's biggest island of Java, said his government had built 50 new ports and airports, 1.1 million hectares of irrigation canals and 2,700 kilometers of new toll roads.

"Our economic growth has been maintained at around five percent, even though many countries are not growing or even slowing down," he said, adding inflation had held steady between 2 and 3 percent despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

He did not mention his final legacy project, Nusantara, the newly planned capital city on Borneo island that is to replace sinking and traffic-clogged Jakarta as the country's political center this year.

The $32-billion megaproject has faced building delays and funding woes that have cast doubt on the schedule.