VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin delivered an online speech to students at his residence in Jakarta on Sunday. ANTARA/HO-Vice Presidential Secretariat

Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin confirmed that the Indonesian government had readied several development programs to support the country's recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic that led the government to amend the focus of development in 2020.

"We have begun preparing recovery programs to return the country to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic scenario in accordance with the priorities we have drafted and launched," Amin noted in a written statement released on Monday.

The recovery programs will lay emphasis on economic sectors that bore the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, he remarked.

"(The programs) will prioritize sectors that have suffered the deeper impact of the pandemic, such as the economic sector, including medium-and large-sized businesses and micro and small businesses," he noted in his Ramadhan online speech to the Association of Indonesian Students (PPI).

Furthermore, the government will direct its attention to the handling of the poor since the COVID-19 pandemic had increased their number that is estimated to reach up to 40 percent of the population, he stated.

"We must make efforts to meet their needs and empower them to reduce the number of poor people in Indonesia," he noted.

Several countries have imposed an emergency policy to avert the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and economic sectors. Indonesia has aligned the focus of its development to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The COVID-19 pandemic goes beyond our capability. It has affected not only the health sector or human lives but also the social and economic sectors, including in our country," he pointed out. (ANTARA)