VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati stated that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia was relatively better than various countries in Europe both in terms of the economy and the number of victims.

Sri Mulyani said countries in Europe were experiencing a second wave of COVID-19, which caused the number of cases to continue to increase and the economy would still be depressed.

"Indonesia and countries in Asia are relatively better off in terms of their impact on the economy and the number of victims compared to other countries in Europe whose economies have slumped and the number of victims has also increased," she said in an online discussion in Jakarta, Tuesday.

Sri Mulyani explained that the occurrence of a second wave pandemic in various parts of developed countries in Europe and the United States (US) would result in different handling compared to the first wave.

Therefore, she said the world economy would still experience contraction this year as developed countries were hit by the second wave of the pandemic even though in the third quarter they experienced a recovery.

"The economies of advanced and emerging market countries improved in the third quarter. We see that the global economic recession in 2020 will increase in the form of recovery in 2021, which is reflected in various projections of international institutions," she said.

She said the IMF predicts that next year the world economy will grow at the level of 5.2 percent, the OECD estimates that it will grow at 5 percent, and the World Bank projects to grow 4.2 percent.

According to her, the impact of a better pandemic in Indonesia provides its own optimism so that the government continues to seek recovery with the "Gas and Rem" policy in order to keep up with the pandemic's developments.

She ensured that so far the coordination of all authorities had been running well while maintaining and respecting the independence and function of each.

She said that good coordination steps were reflected in the economic recovery that began to appear in the third quarter, namely minus 3.49 percent from minus 5.32 percent in the second quarter.

She explained that the aggregate demand in the third quarter showed a recovery in terms of consumption, investment, and exports, and only imports were still in a quite depressed situation.

"This is what we will continue to maintain in managing the trust of the public for recovery and also from the market side," she said. (Antaranews)