RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta – Indonesia's creative economy sector demonstrated increasingly strong performance throughout 2025. The Ministry of Creative Economy (Kemenekraf) recorded that investment realization in the creative economy sector grew by more than 30 percent compared to the previous year, strengthening its role as a new engine of national economic growth.

Secretary of the Ministry of Creative Economy, Dessy Ruhati, said this achievement reflects growing investor confidence in the creative economy sector, especially amidst the rapid development of Indonesia's digital economy.

Investment in the creative economy is still dominated by the application subsector, reaching a value of IDR 54.18 trillion. The crafts, fashion, and culinary subsectors also made significant contributions and continue to show positive growth.

"This performance is reflected in investment development, which continues to show a positive trend. Going forward, the main challenge is to expand this investment to various regions by strengthening the ecosystem, increasing human resource capacity, protecting intellectual property, and expanding access to financing," Dessy said in Jakarta on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, as quoted by Antara.

Indonesian creative products are becoming increasingly competitive in the global market. The export value of creative economy goods hit USD 16.3 million, led by fashion at USD 12 million, and the culinary industry is booming.

The government is still working on recording creative services exports, such as digital content, animation, and various other creative services that are not fully recorded in national statistics.

The contribution of the creative economy sector is also evident in its employment, especially for the younger generation. This sector is considered increasingly strategic in creating productive jobs while increasing the added value of the national economy.

"Ultimately, these jobs will lead to increased added value and national economic growth," she said.

To strengthen this growth, the Ministry of Creative Economy is implementing a Hexahelix approach that prioritizes collaboration between the government, business, academia, communities, financial institutions, and the media. This synergy is aimed at strengthening the capacity of business actors, expanding intellectual property protection, simplifying the valuation process, expanding market access, and evaluating the resulting economic impact.

"Indonesia does not lack ideas, Indonesia does not lack talent, Indonesia also does not lack creativity. What we still need to build together is an ecosystem capable of transforming that creativity into a national economic strength," said Dessy.

Going forward, the Ministry of Creative Economy is targeting investment in the creative economy sector to reach approximately USD 8.2 billion to USD 9.7 billion by 2027. This target aligns with the mandate of the 2025–2029 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) to encourage quality economic growth through increased productivity, investment, and industrialization.

Through the RPJMN, the creative economy sector is also targeted to record GDP growth of 5.8 percent, export growth of 5.5 percent with an export value reaching USD 29.39 billion, absorbing 26.58 million workers, and posting investment growth of 6.2 to 7.6 percent by 2027. ***