Luhut Optimistic That Indonesia's Economy In The Fourth Quarter Grows By 5 Percent: We Are Currently In The PPKM Level 1 Position, But Cannot Be Jumawa

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. (Photo: Doc. Kemenko Marves)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Panjaitan said he was optimistic that the Indonesian economy would grow 5 percent in the fourth quarter of this year. Luhut said, this was in line with the controlled COVID-19 cases in the country.

"The rapid economic recovery in various sectors will be fully captured in the fourth quarter of 2021. I am sure that the Indonesian economy will be able to grow above 5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021. So we hope that this year our economy can grow at around 4 point a percentage. ," he said in a virtual discussion, Wednesday, November 24.

Furthermore, Luhut said the COVID-19 case due to the Delta variant that had occurred since mid-June this year had a very large impact on the national economy. But thankfully, said Luhut, Indonesia came up with a way to quickly reduce and control cases at a low level.

"This causes the economic recovery to run quickly. We are currently in the PPKM level 1 position. But we must not be careless about this condition. Because anything can happen if we are not disciplined," he said.

Luhut said the controlled COVID-19 cases in the country and the gradual opening of the economy were able to contain the economic slowdown in the third quarter of 2021, although it slowed down compared to the second quarter of 2021 which was 7.1 percent.

"But the realization in the third quarter was 3.5 percent higher than our initial estimate before PPKM was implemented. The decline that occurred in household consumption, investment, the processing industry was also lower than the last PSBB. In other words, our handling of this delta variant or with PPKM this is better than the handling we did (with) PSBB," he explained.

Furthermore, Luhut said that currently the October 2021 consumer confidence index was at its highest position during the pandemic, reaching 113.4 with an optimistic value of more than 100 percent.

"This is a number that previously we were not also this good. But we are also happy that this nation is able to solve our problems of adversity in overcoming the pandemic," he explained.

Luhut said that increased consumer confidence encouraged people to return to economic activities. Mobility data monitored by Google and NASA shows that people's mobility has surpassed pre-pandemic conditions driven by retail and recreational activities.

"The spending index from Bank Mandiri also shows public spending has recovered to pre-pandemic levels since last September," he said.