Revocation Of PPKM Positive Signals For National Economic Awakening, The Government Still Needs Anticipation Of The Spike In COVID-19 Cases

President Jokowi announced the revocation of PPKM/screenshot of the Presidential Secretariat's Youtube screen

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery (KPCPEN) Airlangga Hartarto assessed that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)'s decision to revoke the status of Restrictions on the Implementation of Community Activities (PPKM) should be greeted with gratitude.

According to the Minister of the Economy, the PPKM policy, which has been implemented since April 2020, adds to the social and economic burden of the nation's citizens. Airlangga hopes that, after the revocation of PPKM, the community can be stronger, healthier and united to get back up.

Responding to this, the economist from the University of Indonesia (UI) Teguh Dartanto assessed that the revocation of PPKM status by the government would have a positive impact on the Indonesian economy, although not too big.

"In my opinion, it is quite good for the revocation of PPKM, although it is not very impactful," said Teguh, Tuesday, January 3.

The Dean of FEB UI explained that the impact was not too big because the current community did not really care about PPKM status. Community activities at this time, he said, also do not fully obey PPKM signs.

"Because so far, in the community, the PPKM issue has not been strictly obeyed," he explained.

However, according to him, the revocation of PPKM status is able to provide a positive signal to the community. At that point, said Teguh, public confidence will recover from what was previously always overshadowed by the fear of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"So, the revocation of PPKM gives a positive signal and confidence for the community that the pandemic has turned into an endemic," he said.

In addition, Teguh added, the revocation of PPKM will make the domestic economy even more rotating. Therefore, producers and consumers can now be calmer in carrying out economic activities because they no longer intersect with the rules that apply during the pandemic.

"With the repeal of PPKM, it provides business certainty so that consumers and producers can be more flexible in preparing businesses and consumption without any concerns about changes in policies related to COVID-19," he concluded.

Positive Economics

The same thing was also expressed by CORE economist Yusuf Rendy Manilet. Yusuf said that the revocation of PPKM would have a positive impact on the Indonesian economy. However, because the pandemic is still ongoing, the government must anticipate if there is a spike in cases or there is a new variant.

"In general, of course, with the withdrawal of the PPKM policy, there is a sector that has the potential to be positively affected. One of them is the tourism sector and business fields that participate, such as transportation and also food and beverage restaurant businesses," said Yusuf, Tuesday, January 3.

With the prohibition of community activities for two years, Yusuf continued, the tourism sector is very slumped but is starting to stretch again, especially at the end of this year. With the activity of the tourism sector, the transportation sector will also follow it because travel will certainly use transportation services.

"And with the increasing number of potential tourist numbers both from domestic and outside the transportation sector, both air, sea and land have the potential to grow better this year," explained Yusuf.

It's just that, Yusuf reminded, so that the government has mitigation if there is an increase in cases again. Including if you have to apply PPKM again.

"I think, with the experience of handling the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when the emergence of the Delta variant and the government's omicron, the government should have understood what it would then need to be prepared or stages when it experienced an increasing trend," he said.

"And of course there needs to be a kind of point where the government re-implements PPKM. This point needs to be explored when the government re-implements this PPKM policy," concluded Yusuf.