VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Presidential Staff Office (KSP) stated that the Indonesian economy had exceeded its lowest point and now starting to recover.

Chief Expert Deputy KSP III Edy Priyono said this in Jakarta, on Thursday, addressing the realization of Indonesia's economic growth in the third quarter of 2020 which amounted to minus 3.49 percent annually (year on year).

Even though in the third quarter of 2020 the economy was still negative annually, Edy said, when compared to quarter to quarter the economy grew by 5.05 percent (quarter to quarter).

Meanwhile, cumulatively, Indonesia's economic growth during the first to the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 contracted by 2.03 percent.

"Thus there will be a significant economic improvement, and this can be a good capital to move into the fourth quarter of 2020," said Edy.

Annual economic growth (yoy) in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the second quarter of 2020 also improved due to the smaller level of contraction. In the second quarter of 2020, annual economic growth contracted to minus 5.3 percent.

Currently, said Edy, what is very important is the way to ensure that further policies can be effective to restore the economy.

"The government's strategy to design several programs in the National Economic Recovery (PEN) is the right step. In addition, the government continues to encourage government spending," he said.

This aligns with the countercyclical policy to fight the economic slowdown. This means that when the economy is sluggish, he said, government spending can become a mainstay to encourage the economy so it can reverse the cycle of an economic slowdown.

Edy said that the policy for counter-cycles must continue as long as the economy has not fully recovered.

In addition, he continued, the middle-upper group should continue to be encouraged to increase their consumption.

"So far, it is suspected that they have put a lot of their money into savings. The government needs to support it by enforcing the rules on health protocols because middle-upper-class groups will only want to go out and shop (physically) if they feel safe,” he said.

Until now, he said, the government was still consistent with handling the impact of COVID-19 through various aspects. The first aspect is health by controlling the spread of COVID-19, increasing the recovery rate, and reducing the death rate.

The second aspect is social protection by maintaining people's purchasing power, and the third aspect, namely maintaining the maximum possible economic and financial sector so that the business world can continue to recover.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, said Edy, Indonesia's economic growth was also better than several other countries.

Based on BPS data, there are countries whose economic growth in the third quarter of 2020 is better than Indonesia, such as China (4.9 percent), Taiwan (3.3 percent), and Vietnam (2.62 percent).

South Korea and the United States were also slightly better than Indonesia, although the growth of the two countries in the third quarter of 2020 was also still negative, namely minus 1.3 percent and minus 2.9 percent, respectively.

However, several other countries experienced a worse contraction than Indonesia in the third quarter of 2020, such as Singapore (-7.0 percent) and Mexico (-8.58 percent).

"If you look at this comparison, Indonesia's growth is quite good. The most important thing is, our growth in the third quarter of 2020 was better than the second quarter of 2020, thus showing that we are gradually moving towards economic recovery," he said. (Antaranews)