President Joko Widodo formed the Committee for Covid-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery. The people hope that the committee will be effective in dealing with the pandemic.
By
KOMPAS EDITOR
·3 minutes read
SEKRETARIAT PRESIDEN
President Joko Widodo held a meeting with several ministers and Coordination Task Force for Covid-19, Doni Monardo at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Monday (7/20/2020). The meeting discussed the formation of the Covid-19 Handling Committee and the National Economic Recovery.
President Joko Widodo formed the Committee for Covid-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery. The people hope that the committee will be effective in dealing with the pandemic.
Five months after the first SARS-CoV-2 case that caused the Covid-19 pandemic was detected in this country, the severity of the impact of the pandemic on the Indonesian economy has become increasingly apparent. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati estimates that Indonesia\'s economic growth in the second quarter will be negative, between minus 3.5 and minus 5.1 percent with a midpoint of minus 4.3 percent. If in the third quarter of 2020 the growth remains negative, it can be said Indonesia is experiencing a recession.
The government has attempted to overcome the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic by forming the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling Covid-19, which two days ago was changed to the Task Force for Covid-19. From the fiscal side, the government provides an additional health budget to deal with Covid-19, relaxing loans and interest subsidies for micro, small and medium enterprises, and reducing corporate taxes. For the poor and those who have lost jobs, there was an extension of cash assistance, electricity cost subsidies, and village funds linked to labor-intensive programs.
The World Bank said Indonesia\'s economic growth in 2020 would be zero percent, a moderate prediction given the world economic growth is expected to be minus 5 percent. The conditions are, among others, the Indonesian economy is fully reopened again in August and there is no new surge in the Covid-19 case.
Projected economic growth in Indonesia. Source: World Bank.
Looking at new confirmed cases of Covid-19 and transmission rates compared to the number of people that have undergone the Covid-19 virus test (positivity rate), which is still above 10 percent, while the
World Health Organization\'s standard is 5 percent, opening up full economic activity in August demands harder work. A number of countries that have reopened their economies after successfully reducing the number of new infections have had to close down economic and social activities due to new cases. Each country has its own way of dealing with the pandemic. The government formed the Covid-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Committee to better integrate and coordinate health and economic management.
They must go together. The handling of Covid-19 transmission must be prioritized because this is the main cause of our problems. At the same time, the economy must be dealt with immediately because it involves lives. We want the formation of the committee to build trust between the general public, the business community and the government. Trust is very important for successfully coping with the effects of the pandemic.
The establishment of the new committee is a good first step, giving hope to complete the large and challenging work. We want the committee to lay out strategies that can be implemented and meet the expectations of the people. We want the committee to lay out concrete strategies and steps that can be implemented and meet the expectations of the people.
