Consumer Confidence Index At 77.3 Percent Level, Indef: Lowest For 12 Years

JAKARTA - The Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) said the consumer confidence index (IKK) released by Bank Indonesia (BI) in August 2021 was 77.3 percent, the lowest in 12 years. The decline in the IKK was due to the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 in the country.

Deputy Director of Indef, Eko Listiyanto, said the condition was exacerbated by the policy of implementing an emergency Community Activity Restriction (PPKM) and continuing at the PPKM level. In fact, said Eko, at the beginning of the year consumer confidence had almost penetrated the optimistic level of 100 percent.

"So you can imagine how the emergency PPKM and yesterday's leveling made consumer confidence really drop to its lowest point in the last 12 years", he said in a virtual discussion, Friday, September 10.

Eko said the government's policy of limiting community activities to break the chain of the spread of COVID-19 severely hit domestic consumption for two consecutive months. Eko said, in July the IKK level was in a pessimistic position with 80 percent.

According to Eko, the recovery of consumer confidence is very dependent on how quickly the government can deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Reflecting on developed countries such as the United States (US), Europe, Japan, and China, Eko said, their consumer confidence index was able to rise dramatically when COVID-19 could be controlled.

Eko said, based on the latest data last month, the IKK in the US had reached 101 percent. While in Europe it is at the level of 100 percent. While Japan is 98 percent and China is 100 percent.

"In India, at the beginning of the year it touched 98 percent, but then it went down again because there was a delta variant", he said.

Indef has not been able to predict when an increase in the CPI may occur. This is because the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 is still happening, even though the government is boosting the vaccination process.