Jokowi: Nearly Half Of The World's Countries Become IMF Patients

Screenshot - President Joko Widodo delivered a speech at the opening of Mahasabha XIII KMHDI at Tadulako University, Palu

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that almost half of the countries in the world are currently "patients" of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in line with various global challenges in the era of the COVID-19 endemic.

"I asked IMF's management director, lastly how many countries are IMF patients? 96 countries, almost half of the countries in the world are now IMF patients. This means that once again, the current world challenges are not getting easier," said Jokowi when opening Mahasabha XIII KMHDI at Tadulako University, Palu, reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, August 30.

Although Indonesia managed to surpass the pandemic crisis that hit for three well years, President Jokowi estimates that the challenges facing the world in the endemic era will be even more difficult.

According to Jokowi, not a few countries in the world have collapsed after temporarily surpassing the pandemic crisis.

"The economic crisis can overcome the pandemic, but it cannot overcome the economy. The food crisis can be overcome, but food prices in many countries have increased by more than 50 percent, some by more than 100 percent," he said.

President Jokowi also highlighted the situation of the European Union countries which are currently being hit by an energy crisis.

"Energy crisis in several European Union countries, gas, fuel increases, some even reach 700 percent. If only 10 percent of the gasoline (price) is increased, students only have 2 months of demonstrations, up 20 percent of the demonstration is 6 months. That's an increase (price) for gas up to 700 percent," he said.

In addition, said Jokowi, the global challenges that have not yet subsided are rivalry and geopolitical due to the influence of the Russian and Ukrainian wars.

"Not only in the western region, the war between Russia and Ukraine, but also near us is also starting to heat up," he said.

What is no less scary, said Jokowi, is climate change which is now starting to be felt by almost all countries.

"What is usually cold, it becomes hot, which is usually hotter. The heat wave, Super El Nino, is something we must deal with wisely," he said.