Sri Mulyani Optimistic That Growth Rise From Negative Level To 0 Percent, Can It Be?

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani Indrawati believes that Indonesia's economic growth in the first quarter of 2021 will improve from previously contracting at a negative level to 0 percent amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This optimism has been built because the government has made efforts to calibrate policies on the demand and supply sides. On the demand side, Sri Mulyani said there would be a vaccine

"I believe vaccines can achieve improved consumption. With the improvement in consumption, I think it will be a great opportunity for a better recovery, ”he said as on the official website, Monday, February 15.

On the supply side, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) called the Minister of Finance has paid attention to all derivative regulations of the Job Creation Law.

The former boss of the World Bank and IMF said that the enactment of this law will provide a new way of investing in Indonesia and will provide a better position for Indonesia compared to other countries.

"We continue to do optimal work on what we can place, so there is no reason not to be optimistic," he said.

Previously, the Executive Director of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Enny Sri Hartati had a strong belief that economic growth in the first quarter of 2021 was in the red zone, aka negative.

"It is almost certain that it will be negative, because we (the government) calculate based on the aggregator for the same period the previous year," he told VOI some time ago.

For information, the growth rate in the first quarter of 2020 is still at a positive level with a record of 2.97 percent. This year's pandemic factor is believed to make room for growth in the first quarter of 2021 not to exceed the achievement of the same period the previous year.

Meanwhile, economic growth throughout 2021 is recorded at a level of minus 2.07 percent.