Sri Mulyani Wary Of Omicron Slowing Economic Growth: Therefore, President Jokowi Promotes Booster Vaccinations

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, is wary of the increase in cases of COVID-19, the Omicron variant, which has the potential to affect economic performance in the first quarter of 2022, even though daily cases in Indonesia are lower than globally.

"Omicron's development has entered Indonesia and this will be our concern so as not to affect the performance of the economic recovery too much, especially in the first quarter of 2022", said the Minister of Finance during a working meeting with Commission XI of the Indonesian House of Representatives in Jakarta, quoted from Antara on Thursday, January 27.

Sri Mulyani said the world's average seven-day case per January 25, 2022, reached 3.31 million with 8,000 deaths, while in Indonesia it was 1,808 cases.

When viewed by country, the average seven-day case in the United States (US) reached 616.6 thousand with 2,159 deaths, France 366.2 thousand, India 312 thousand, Italy 162.4 thousand, Brazil 159.8 thousand, Spain 125.3 thousand, Germany 116.6 thousand and Argentina 103.3 thousand.

"Indonesia is still low, but we have high alertness with an upward trend, especially Omicron, from the transmission which is now local", he said.

Therefore, Sri Mulyani said President Joko Widodo had asked all ranks to immediately increase vaccinations including boosters as a step to prevent the potential for an Omicron wave to occur.

Meanwhile, the number of people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the first dose as of January 26, 2022, is 182.5 million people or 87.63 percent, while the second dose is 125.67 million people or 60.34 percent.

The government itself has set a vaccination target to achieve community immunity or herd immunity to around 208.26 million people.

Sri Mulyani also ensured that the acceleration of vaccination would be carried out while the government calibrated the pandemic to endemic, which turned out to be not an easy path considering the emergence of Omicron.

"We will continue to calibrate the transition. We will continue to use all policy instruments flexibly because the path or journey to this endemic is not smooth", she said.

She added that each country is now also continuing to synergize to research to determine the development of various other potential variants and to find better vaccines and treatments.

"Every country continues to try so we will see including the development of the variant or type of virus and the possibility of finding a vaccine and better treatment", she explained.