Coordinating Minister Airlangga: The Government Is Committed To Continue Cooperation With All Stakeholders To Handle The COVID-19 Pandemic

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto. (Photo: Doc. Coordinating Ministry for the Economy)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said that the government is committed to continuing to cooperate with all stakeholders in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and accelerating economic recovery in order to create a sustainable economy.

"This commitment will help in realizing a sustainable economy," said Coordinating Minister Airlangga in a written statement, quoted from Antara, Thursday, October 7.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga said economic growth of 7.07 percent in the second quarter of 2021, improvement in domestic demand, recovery in various key sectors such as the manufacturing industry, trade, as well as transportation and warehousing contributed to other economic activities in Indonesia.

“This has given optimism to all economic actors. Entering the third quarter of 2021, the government is making various efforts to maintain the momentum of economic recovery, which is expected to minimize the impact of the tightening of mobility restrictions that will be carried out in July-August 2021," said Airlangga.

Not only that, manufacturing activity returned to an expansive level at 52.2 in September 2021. In addition, the increase in imports of capital goods and raw materials in August 2021 indicates that production activity is starting to move again.

Export performance also continued to show improvement so that Indonesia's trade balance was in surplus for 16 consecutive months. Cumulatively since January-August 2021, the trade balance recorded a surplus of 19.17 billion US dollars, much higher than the achievement in the same period in 2020 of 10.96 billion US dollars.

In addition, the improvement in foreign trade performance also occurred due to the economic recovery of Indonesia's trading partner countries and the super cycle trend of rising international commodity prices such as crude oil, coal and palm oil, crumb rubber, gold and others. Likewise, the condition of the relatively stable exchange rate and foreign exchange reserves which reached 144.8 billion US dollars at the end of August 2021.

Furthermore, Airlangga conveyed that the improvement in sectoral performance in the period January 1 to August 31, 2021, has supported tax revenues received by the state, thus supporting an increase in quality spending, including in the implementation of the PEN program.

"Considering the potential risk of the widespread impact of COVID-19 which could continue into next year, the government is committed to continuing the PEN Program in 2022 as well. The budget allocation is IDR 321 trillion and is dynamic," said Airlangga.