Handling the COVID-19 pandemic and adopting an accommodative policy is crucial to script a national economic recovery, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto has said.

“Economic growth highly hinges on handling the pandemic. The government and all parties must assist each other in controlling COVID-19 in order to recover the national economy,” he said in a written statement released on Friday.

The government is upbeat about maintaining the momentum of economic recovery in 2021 and 2022, he noted. The economy will expand by up to 5.2 percent in 2022 if Indonesia does not witness a new wave of COVID-19, he projected.

According to the World Bank, the Indonesian economy will grow by 3.7 percent this year, while the government is aiming for economic expansion in the range of 3.5–4 percent, he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic remains a threat to the economy, the minister said. However, Indonesia has still been able to control the pandemic up till now, he added.

“Even though the economy slowed down due to the Delta variant between July and August this year, Indonesia’s economic growth can still be handled properly,” he said.

Indonesia has also managed to curb the unemployment rate so that it would not increase significantly, particularly when infections caused by the Delta variant of COVID-19 swept the country, he added.

Despite the continued loss of workers’ incomes, the expansion of the government’s social assistance has managed to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission due to poverty, Hartarto said.

According to official data, the first and second dose vaccination coverage has reached more than 70 percent and more than 50 percent, respectively, he noted.

Source: Antara News