VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 5 - Vice President Ma’ruf Amin is optimistic that Indonesia would be able to revert to being an upper middle-income country after the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We were an upper (middle) income country. However, we fell to the bracket of lower (middle) income country. We are upbeat about returning to the category of upper middle-income country again," Amin remarked during an online dialog on Friday.

COVID vaccination is one of the programs for reviving the national economy amid the pandemic. The government has set a target to vaccinate over 181 million or 70 percent of Indonesia's population against COVID-19 to create herd immunity.

"In addition to applying health protocols, PSBB (large-scale social restrictions), and PPKM (restriction on public activities), we have rolled out the vaccination program since January 2021. The vaccination is considered a game changer to solve the COVID-19 problem," he remarked.

The World Bank designated Indonesia as an upper middle-income country in mid-2020. To be assigned the status, the national economic growth must reach five percent annually.

In the wake of the pandemic, the Indonesian economy contracted, thereby returning it to the status of low middle-income country. (Antaranews)