Economy Hits Soto Traders Complain, East Java Kadin Rejects Extension Of Emergency PPKM

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/ANTARA/Streets closed in Surabaya during emergency PPKM

SURABAYA - Chairman of the East Java Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Adik Dwi Putranto said the government's discourse to extend the emergency PPKM from 4 weeks to 6 weeks was very difficult. Emergency PPKM can hit the national economy, including East Java.

"This is very difficult for entrepreneurs and for society in general. Because the resilience of industry and society is now almost exhausted," said Adik as quoted by Antara, Tuesday, July 13.

According to him, from the evaluation, the addition of new cases of COVID-19 during the emergency PPKM period experienced a sharp increase. Whereas before the emergency PPKM, the addition of new cases reached 21-25 thousand per day, now it is increasing by around 40 thousand per day.

"This means that the emergency PPKM for a week is ineffective because the increase is actually getting sharper. This is what then led to the discourse of extending the PPKM. However, if the PPKM extension is within 4 weeks to 6 weeks, it is too long," he said.

According to Adik, the extension of the emergency PPKM is for a maximum of two weeks, because the survival of the community has almost run out, while assistance is still not available at all.

"Stimulus to increase purchasing power such as cash assistance is also not available. Meanwhile, industrial conditions and the community are starting to get tired during the emergency PPKM which was implemented from July 3-20 2021," he said.

He said that there were many difficulties experienced by entrepreneurs and the community during an emergency PPKM, one of which was the closure of access to one area which affected supply and distribution.

"Also the obligation to have an antigen Swab test letter which is only valid for 1x24 hours or a PCR test that is valid for 2x24 hours will result in high costs. If this emergency PPKM is really extended for 6 weeks and is not balanced with a stimulus that is quickly released, I am afraid that chaos will occur, said Adik, emphasized.

Adik noted, during the emergency PPKM, the sectors most affected were MSMEs, then hotels, restaurants, and tourism.

"Although there are several hotels that are used as places of self-isolation or self-isolation, this effort cannot increase, because the numbers are very small. This is heavy, very heavy. Especially for MSMEs whose income in one day is to eat every day," he said.

The East Java Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Adik, has also received complaints from several MSMEs, because during an emergency PPKM they can only sell half as much as usual, for example, street vendors selling soup, which usually can sell an average of 200 to 300 portions per day, during this emergency PPKM they can only sell only sell 100 portions because the selling time is limited to 20.00 WIB.

In addition, there are also cake sellers who on weekdays can sell around 150 cakes per day, now they can only sell 76 seeds per day.

For that, he said, the steps that must be taken are the acceleration of the stimulus, and the acceleration of government spending for MSME products and also the construction sector.

"If there is still a project that can be done, it must be executed immediately," he said.