Minister Of Finance Sri Mulyani Claims That The Omicron COVID-19 Variant Will Not Affect The Economy

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JAKARTA - The Minister of Finance (Menkeu), Sri Mulyani, claims that Indonesia's domestic production and consumption capabilities are still relatively strong amid the COVID-19 case of the Omicron variant. Although it is considered quite dangerous from a health perspective, the presence of the new variant is considered not to have much effect on the government's efforts to restore the national economy.

"The Omicron variant is still relatively low or has weak influence in terms of influencing Indonesia's economic recovery," said Sri Mulyani, at the Fitch on Indonesia 2022 Webinar, in Jakarta, as reported by Antara, Wednesday, March 16.

In terms of production, Sri Mulyani said that the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) has continued to be in an expansion phase in the last five months, and is the highest in the ASEAN Region. In addition, the performance of imports of raw materials and capital goods is still growing in double digits, and business and industrial electricity consumption is also increasing.

The strength of the national economy, said Sri Mulyani, can also be seen from the consumption indicator, namely the Consumer Confidence Index, which is above the optimistic level. Not only that, the Retail Sales Index which continues to increase in line with public optimism and mobility, as well as the Mandiri Shopping Index which is still above pre-pandemic conditions amid the Omicron distribution are also other positive indicators.

With good economic conditions in the middle of Omicron, Sri Mulyani is still optimistic that the Indonesian economy will grow 4.8 percent to 5.5 percent. This estimate is also in line with the projections of various world institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at 5.6 percent, the World Bank at 5.2 percent, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) at 5.2 percent.

However, the State Treasurer did not want to underestimate the existing economic recovery because Indonesia was still focused on accelerating vaccination. "Hopefully we will reach 70 percent of the population who receive complete vaccinations before Eid and at the same time, we also accelerate booster vaccinations," said Sri Mulyani.

According to him, vaccination will make Indonesia more confident in facing a prolonged pandemic and at the same time continue to support the process of economic recovery.