Jokowi Calls That Indonesia Needs Time To Get Out Of The Crisis, Will You Accept The Recession?

Capture the screen of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). (Mery Handayani / VOI)

JAKARTA - The government is now struggling so that in the third quarter, Indonesia's economy will not contract so that it can avoid a recession due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Various policies have been launched to boost people's purchasing power, however, it is considered that Indonesia still needs time to get out of the crisis.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) acknowledged this. He said that Indonesia still needed time to escape from a period of crisis. Because of this, he asked, all elements work more to accelerate Indonesia out of the crisis.

"The government must change the work channel from an ordinary channel to an extraordinary one. As well as world conditions in general, we still need time to escape this crisis," he said in a video conference, Tuesday, September 8.

Jokowi said that the government still desperately needed work flexibility and simplicity of procedures. He wants the whole process to be done quickly and effectively.

"Everything must be done with a simple procedure, for the sake of public safety. Community safety is more important than complicated procedures that we make ourselves. It's time we have to overhaul," he said.

According to Jokowi, with a simple system, Indonesia can not only handle crises, but can also make leaps to compete with the international community.

"The government has committed that our efforts are not only limited to getting out of the crisis, but taking advantage of the crisis to make a leap. Take advantage of this crisis to build new ways of working, new institutions that are able to compete in global competition," he said.

Jokowi also said that since the beginning his party had asked all levels of government to always prioritize accountability, transparency and innovation. Also, always prioritizing the main objectives of the program being implemented.

In addition, said Jokowi, the government has also made extraordinary efforts in the economic sector, namely by providing social assistance (bansos) in the form of basic necessities and cash. The government also issues subsidies for workers with salaries below IDR 5 million.

"To save people who are unemployed, have no income, we provide assistance. There is also assistance for MSMEs and credit restructuring must also be done quickly. All of this is done so that economic conditions do not worsen and people's economic activities can still run," he said.

For your information, in the first quarter the Indonesian economy was still in the positive zone. However, in the second quarter of this year, Indonesia's economic growth contracted considerably by 5.32 percent. If economic growth in the third quarter is still in the negative zone, then technically, Indonesia will enter the brink of recession.