Vice President Ma’ruf Amin expressed optimism that Indonesia would not need to seek aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the fourth year of his vice presidency along with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

“We know that several countries have lined up for IMF aid. There are at least 28 countries yet, Praise be to God, Indonesia, God Willing, is not among them,” Amin stated during the press conference after opening the 2023 Jakarta Muslim Fashion Week in Tangerang, Banten, on Thursday.

October 20, 2022, marks the third year of Joko Widodo-Ma’ruf Amin’s presidency and vice presidency since their inauguration on October 20, 2019.

“Mr Jokowi and I have exerted our effort to realize our programs and visions because Mr Jokowi and I only enjoyed three months of normal times (since our inauguration), while the rest of our term (to date was) overshadowed by the pandemic,” Amin underlined.

The government has bolstered its efforts since 2020 to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from ruining Indonesia’s economy, he added.

“Our (economic) growth is at 5.4 percent, and our inflation level is even only at 4.9 percent, while other countries have surpassed that percentage. This is the fruit of our collective works,” the vice president remarked.

Earlier, President Jokowi said that as many as 28 countries were currently awaiting IMF aid.

“I got a call from the finance minister from Washington D.C., and she said that 28 countries had lined up to become IMF’s ‘patients,'” he stated on Tuesday (October 11).

According to the president, this meant that several countries witnessed a decline in their economic conditions, one of the causal factors being the COVID-19 pandemic and was exacerbated by the war between Russia and Ukraine that led to the food crisis, energy crisis, and financial crisis.

Source: Antara News