Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) Puan Maharani has said that effective handling of the pandemic is key for national economic growth.
“In the second quarter of 2021, public social and economic activities has begun to resume. Thus, our economy has also started to recover,” she noted in a statement released here on Friday.
According to the data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, Indonesia’s economy grew 7.07 percent year on year in the second quarter of 2021, she said. It was the first positive growth in five consecutive quarters, she added. Meanwhile, compared to the first quarter of 2021, Indonesia’s gross domestic product rose by 3.31 percent, she noted. Household consumption contributed to almost half of the growth, she added.
She then urged the government to sustain the achievement by maintaining the people’s purchasing power and continuing national economic recovery programs such as the social cash transfer program, food assistance program, business capital assistance, as well as recovery support for the business sector. However, any increase in public activities will still need to be undertaken with the strict implementation of the health protocols, Maharani cautioned. Along with the mass vaccination program, the health protocols are crucial to ensure the continuity of the people’s economy and social activities, she said.
Furthermore, the House and the government have set the fiscal capacity of the 2022 state budget draft to be able to anticipate the uncertainty of the pandemic, she said.
She then urged the government to focus spending on handling the pandemic and maintaining the national social and economic recovery programs, including the absorption of local government budgets for the programs.
Source: Antara News