Government’s Efforts to Get Indonesia Out of Recession Appreciated

CSIS economists appreciate the government’s efforts to get Indonesia out of recession.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Head of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Economic Department, Yose Rizal Damuri, spoke about Indonesia’s exit from the economic recession. According to him, the handling of the pandemic, which did not only prioritize the health sector or the economy, managed to record positive results.

“Government programs help in several sectors. Health conditions that are under control also affect,” said Yose Rizal Damuri in a statement, Friday (6/8).

Yose assessed that the tightening policy in terms of handling the pandemic, Chairman of the Committee for the Handling of the Covid-19 and National Economic Recovery (KPC-PEN) Airlangga Hartarto, had also succeeded in reducing the spread of the virus. From an economic perspective, various policies and strategies have succeeded in bringing Indonesia out of recession.

In a report from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), in the second quarter of 2021 Indonesia was able to record economic growth of 7.07 percent. That figure is the highest in the last 17 years or since 2004.

According to Yose, the improvement in the national economy is mainly due to improved health. As a result, he continued, spending money is no longer a wait-and-see attitude, so investors will not hesitate to invest their capital.

Yose’s assessment is in line with Airlangga’s strategy. Using the helicopter view pattern, the chairman of the Golkar Party does not only focus on handling the pandemic from an economic or health perspective.

“We’re taking a helicopter look at this situation view, can not partially. If only viewed from the health side, the policy seems less assertive. From an economic perspective, the policies seem too restrictive. This must be done carefully and calculated carefully, because the government must consider these various aspects,” said Airlangga.

Airlangga continued, in order to keep people’s purchasing power high, the government implemented various social assistance and incentive schemes. According to Yose, the program has had a positive impact. Social assistance can encourage consumption.

“The government program is certainly useful to keep people’s lives from falling too deep. So that people can live subsistencely while waiting for improvements,” he said.

Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) researcher Saidiman Ahmad also appreciated Airlangga Hartarto’s role in national economic growth. He assessed that economic growth could reinforce the government’s efforts to not only focus on handling the pandemic in one sector.

“Economic growth of 7.07 percent is an extraordinary achievement in the process of national economic recovery,” he said.

He said the economy that experienced positive growth would also have an impact on the health sector as well as continuing to improve. He considered the government quite successful in dealing with the pandemic.

“Although the daily positive confirmation cases are still relatively large, they can be contained enough so that they do not explode like in India,” he said.

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