Indonesia's 2020 Economic Growth Of Minus 2.07 Percent, The Worst Since The 1998 Crisis

BPS Office (Photo: Special)

JAKARTA - Head of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Suhariyanto said that this year's contraction in economic growth of minus 2.07 percent is the first time since the 1998 monetary crisis which was recorded at minus 13.16 percent.

"This is a sign that the impact of the pandemic has hit the Indonesian economy severely," he said in a virtual press conference in Jakarta, Friday, February 5.

Even so, he said that the economic contraction was not only experienced by Indonesia, but also in many countries.

"We recorded only China with 2.3 percent and Vietnam with 2.9 percent," he said.

Meanwhile, several other countries that contracted quite deeply include Singapore with minus 5.8 percent, South Korea with minus 1 percent, and the United States with minus 3.5 percent. Then it was also mentioned that Hong Kong contracted minus 6.1 percent and the combined European Union countries fell to a level of minus 6.4 percent on average.

To note, Indonesia's economic growth after the monetary crisis in the late 90s has consistently been at a positive level. The highest gain occurred in 2011 when there was a commodity price boom with 6.17 percent. A year later the level was still around 6 percent.

However, in 2013 the growth rate fell and touched a new psychological level with a score of 5.7 percent. After that, this figure is in a downward trend and the peak occurred in 2020 with a record of minus 2.07 percent caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.