Head of Bappenas Receives The Economist's Interview
Jakarta,ANEKAFAKTA.COM
The Head of Bappenas received The Economist's interview with the theme "The Economist Event Indonesia Summit: Beyond Covid 19 Towards Sustainable Prosperity". This event held virtually on Tuesday, March 23, 2021.
One of the questions raised to the Minister was regarding the handling of Covid-19 in Indonesia and what Bappenas plans for economic growth and recovery.
"The economy is tightly correlated to the health of the people and the virus containment. With that in mind, government divide crisis management into three phases. Those are: phase 1 emergency response, phase 2 post Covid-19 recovery, phase 3 economic transformation," said the Minister.
On the emergency response, we are focusing on containing the spread of the virus to flatten the recession curve and save the economy. This is done through enforcing large scale social restrictions, bolstering testing and tracing capacity, and increasing isolation and treatment facilities.
The Minister said, to reduce the further impact of the pandemic on the economy, the Government of Indonesia implemented the National Economic Recovery Program (PEN) comprising social assistance to vulnerable groups such as low-income individuals, people who lost their jobs, and enterprises on the brink of bankruptcy, and maintaining macro stability to prevent huge economic scarring and crisis contagion to the financial sector.
"We have disbursed around Rp 579 trilliun in 2020 for economic recovery program, and relaxing our fiscal rule by running a budget deficit of -6.2% in 2020 to help mitigate the further risks of economic recession," he said.
The Minister explain, since early 2021, Indonesia starts implementing a massive vaccination program. There are around 5.7 million of Indonesians have been vaccinated as of today. As the number of cases has begun to decline and relatively stable, economic activity gradually begins to resume and we are now entering the recovery phase. There are two important aspects in the recovery phase.
Furthermore, the Minister explained two aspects of post-Covid-19 recovery."There are two important aspects in the recovery phase. First is to prevent the occurrence of second waves. On this side, Indonesia is making sure of the supply and roll out of vaccines; along with the implementation of health protocols, increasing testing and tracing capacities, and social restrictions when necessary," said the Minister.
Second is on the economic side, through the implementation of government programs that is aimed at reabsorbing the labor force, providing incentives for households and businesses to reheat the economy, and continuing social assistance for vulnerable communities.
Finally, the Minister conveyed the economic transformation strategy. "We need to commit to each step until completion. Economic recovery is necessary, but not sufficient. Economic transformation is a must. But, economic transformation will not be in a good shape, when we have not even recovered from the pandemic. The long-term development is conditional to the success of our short-term relief," he closed.
Red/anekafakta.com
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