Jokowi: Beware of the Continued Impact of Covid-19

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) asks the government to remain aware of the continued impact of the co-19 pandemic on economic conditions in 2021. He instructed the government to carefully calculate various potentials, opportunities and risks both domestically and globally in this regard.

"We must remain vigilant about the continued impact of covid19 on the economy in 2021," Jokowi said when opening a plenary cabinet session at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java, Tuesday (4/14).

Jokowi also reminded that the government must continue to focus on the big mission that must continue to run, namely structural reform, accelerated reform and equitable development in the form of regulatory reform, bureaucratic reform, reforms in increasing productivity, and also economic transformation.

Furthermore, Jokowi also said the impact of the corona pandemic will have an impact on development targets and economic growth in 2020 which will be sharply corrected. This also happened in various other countries that also contracted corona.

"We must speak as is, the development targets and economic growth in 2020 will be sharply corrected. But this is not only happening in our country, but in other countries the same, experiencing the same thing. Almost all countries in the world, "said Jokowi.

Various international institutions such as the IMF and World Bank have also predicted the condition of the global economy in 2020 which will enter a period of recession. Even based on calculations received by Jokowi, global economic growth could grow negatively by -2.8 percent.

"It means to pull up to 6 percent," he said.

Therefore, Jokowi requested that the government prepare various scenarios to anticipate this. He also requested that the government continue to be optimistic by working hard to restore health and economic conditions.

One of them is by refocusing and reallocating the 2020 APBN budget. The President emphasized that all ministries and institutions, as well as regional governments, re-comb the APBN and APBD. In addition, various non-priority expenditure allocations must also be trimmed and focused on efforts to deal with the distribution of co-19.

Jokowi asserted, the three priorities of the current government are overcoming the co-19 pandemic, providing a social safety net, and also providing economic stimulus for SMEs, as well as other business actors.