Jokowi Targets 7% Growth, DPR Members From The Democratic Faction: Very Heavy

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has set a target of economic performance to grow above 7 percent in the second quarter of 2021. This figure needs to be achieved to ensure that national economic growth recovers from the downturn caused by the pandemic. However, the target set by the government is considered very heavy.

Member of Commission XI DPR (House of Representatives) from the Democratic Faction, Marwan Cik Asan, said Indonesia's economic growth target of more than 7 percent in the second quarter of 2021 illustrates that the government is too optimistic. He emphasized that this target is very difficult to achieve. This is because several fundamental problems need to be addressed by the government.

"There are several fundamental issues that the government needs to work on immediately. For example, how to increase people's purchasing power again through increasing household consumption, which since the pandemic has contracted by up to 5.51 percent in the second quarter of 2020", he said, in Jakarta, Friday, April 16.

Marwan assessed that the target set by the government was triggered by positive indicators in several sectors. For example, an improvement in retail sales performance and a positive trend in the manufacturing index. However, this indicator is not strong enough to set a target of more than 7 percent.

On the other hand, Mawan sees that increasing people's purchasing power through increased household consumption is actually very important to be used as a foothold.

"Why? Because the composition of Indonesia's economic growth is almost 60 percent contributed by the household consumption sector", he said.

According to Marwan, being optimistic in setting economic growth targets is fine. But instead of being a mere bombastic statement, it would be better if the government focused on the urgent issues in front of their eyes.

Apart from that, said Marwan, the government also needs to re-stimulate investment both at the central and regional levels, with the hope that it will have a multiplier effect on the regional economy through job creation and increased income.

"Because throughout 2020 there has been an increase in unemployment of nearly 3 million people and the poverty rate has risen again to 27.55 million people in September 2020," he said.

Marwan also reminded that the 2021 National Economic Recovery program (PEN) carried out by the government to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic needs to be improved and perfected.

"Fix it so that it is right on target. Because one of our mainstays for economic improvement in the midst of this pandemic is PEN. If it is not repaired it will not have a real contribution to increasing economic growth in 2021," he said.

According to him, policies related to household consumption are important for the government to pay attention to. For example, the direct Cash Assistance program and wage subsidies are still very important to be continued in the 2021 PEN program.

The government must also ensure that health protocols are still implemented without limiting mobility, so that community consumption activities can continue.

"The stimulus given to the production sector in the form of fiscal incentives must also be measured and on target by considering the decline in state revenue from the tax sector," he said.