Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Indonesia's manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) is the highest among the ASEAN-5 countries, which consist of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, said Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani.

Indonesia experienced an expansion of manufacturing activities as indicated by the PMI of 52.2. Meanwhile, manufacturing PMIs of other ASEAN countries are also starting to show recovery, said Sri Mulyani at the October 2021 edition of the online press conference of the national budget here on Monday (Oct. 25).

She pointed out that global manufacturing performance is also improving, as seen from the expansionary PMI to the level of 54.1 as COVID-19 cases are becoming more controllable worldwide.

Below Indonesia's position, the ASEAN-5 countries that also record expansive manufacturing performance are the Philippines at 50.9, Thailand at 48.9, Malaysia at 48.1 and Vietnam at 40.2.

Nevertheless, the state treasurer assessed that manufacturing performance in Europe and the United States are still the main contributors to the continued strengthening of global manufacturing, with PMIs at 58.6 and 60, respectively.

In addition, the PMIs in other major countries are also improving, such as those in India at 53.7, South Korea at 52.4, Japan at 51.5, and China at 50.

"This means that global manufacturing activities have significantly increased in terms of manufacturing activities," said the minister of finance, adding that this improvement triggered a global economic recovery.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that the overall global economic growth in 2021 would reach 5.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the projection from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is 5.7 percent, and the World Bank is 5.6 percent.

Reporting by Indonesia Window