The domestic economy achieved growth of 5.18% year on year in Q2 2016, up from 4.91% year on year in the previous quarter. Economic momentum was maintained due to solid domestic demand in the form of household consumption and government spending. The rupiah continued to appreciate against the dollar, predominantly driven by macroeconomic stability, high forecasts for tax amnesty inflows and an encouraging domestic economic outlook. Inflation has been slowing and in August reached 2.8%, below Bank Indonesia’s 3%-5% target range.
A major talking point in the healthcare industry in recent months has been Indonesia’s universal health coverage. In 2014, social security agency BPJS Kesehatan embarked on an ambitious plan to launch a national health insurance system, with the ultimate goal of making basic care accessible to all citizens by 2019. Since inception, the national health insurance system’s transactions have increased dramatically and the exponential growth of online transactions (from 2,199 in all of 2015 to 5,999 in the first half of 2016), accompanied by government-mandated administrative processes and order management, have put considerable pressure on the industry.
BPJS Kesehatan has forecast that the deficit for the social security fund dedicated to healthcare expenditure could exceed 7 trillion rupiah (US$537.6 million) this year due to the rapid increase in participants and low insurance premiums. The increasingly alarming deficit and liquidity constraints have reinforced the uncertainty surrounding the financial sustainability of the universal healthcare scheme.
Moreover, the legal obligation to serve all customers across the entire archipelago, even community health centers (puskesmas) in geographically remote regions, has posed financial and operational challenges for pharmaceutical distributors.
However, this ambitious overhaul of Indonesia’s healthcare system is still in its infancy. APL is committed to innovation, and close engagement with government bodies and the International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group to seek solutions on how to accommodate this drastic evolution in the industry.
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Views from the region - ID - Q1 2017