Khofifah Believes East Java's Economy Will Be Healed Soon: I Ask Residents To Shop For MSME Products

Governor of East Java, Khofifah Indar Parawansa. (Photo: East Java Provincial Government)

JAKARTA - East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa said he was optimistic that the economy in East Java Province would make significant moves amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Every time we go to the regions we always visit UMKM players, so we ask middle and upper class citizens to shop for local UMKM products so that the economy will move significantly," he said after a ride in Jember Regency, quoted from Antara, Sunday, November 15.

While riding with a number of East Java provincial government officials in Jember, Khofifah took the time to visit the production of typical Jember souvenirs at UMKM Purnomo Jati which produces various processed tapes such as shredded shredded, brownie tape, and prol tape.

"In the series of economic recovery, various programs and stimuli were provided from both the central government and the East Java provincial government which we packaged in the form of a bike ride and program distribution of various parties across sectors," he said.

Some of the assistance provided by Khofifah in Jember included the delivery of national strategic program certificates, direct cash assistance, wage subsidy assistance, and UMKM Productive Presidential Assistance for micro businesses, as well as banking stimuli such as ease of credit application and credit relaxation.

"The program is expected to help and reduce the burden on the community due to the impact of COVID-19. We also travel to the regions to ensure that assistance is right on target," he said.

For the economic recovery of residents, he continued, the central government and the East Java provincial government had provided various stimuli such as BLT, BPNT, wage subsidy assistance, to Banpres-PUM for micro businesses.

Not only that, banking stimuli such as the ease of applying for credit and relaxation of credit also aim to help and reduce the impact of COVID-19 which is a burden on society in this difficult situation.

"Lots of programs are provided in synergy to encourage economic movement in the various regions visited, so the message that continues to be conveyed is to keep wearing masks and keep the economy healthy," said the former Social Minister.

Meanwhile, the Head of Representative of Bank Indonesia for East Java, Difi Ahmad Johansyah, said that all sectors have started to return to normal and the deficit indicators are small, except for the food and beverage and transportation sectors.

"For food and beverages, it's just a matter of time. I see people's visits to shopping centers have increased and household consumption has recovered, so that in the fourth quarter there has been a full recovery with the hard work of all parties," he said.