Economic Growth Due To The Pandemic Has Not Been Maximized, Jokowi: There Are No Words Tired In My Dictionary

President Jokowi with Prof. Abdul Muthalib (Photo: BPMI Presidential Secretariat)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo said that economic growth due to the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year began to show positive results. However, he admitted that it was not optimal.

Bank Indonesia noted that in the fourth quarter of 2020, the Indonesian economy contracted by minus 2.19 percent on an annual basis. This figure is lower than expected.

He said this at the inauguration of the XXth Congress of the Indonesian Islamic Student Movement (PMII) in 2021. Although he admitted that the results of economic growth were not as expected, Jokowi did not want to give up.

"Our economy shows a positive trend, although we must admit that it is not yet optimal. But there is no word tired in my dictionary, especially in times of the pandemic crisis that has hit the world like today," Jokowi said in the Presidential Secretariat Youtube broadcast, Wednesday, March 17.

Jokowi said the government was still working hard to restore public health and revive the national economy.

"Various policies have been implemented, many priority programs have been launched aimed at helping the people's economy to survive," he said.

To PMII cadres, Jokowi said that the world had been fruitful quickly and caused disruption in all sectors of life. Unfortunately, change is always hostile to those who are not ready to change and stop learning.

"Many organizations must be willing to be crushed by change because they are not readily adaptable to change," he said.

Therefore, Jokowi asked the participation of PMII cadres to navigate change as part of solving the nation's major problems.

"PMII must continue to grow and develop into a youth organization that is innovative and adaptive to new things. For PMII cadres to master science and technology, it is a fardhu ain, it is the duty of each individual cadre, because PMII is a leadership laboratory for the younger generation of Islam who will determine the progress or withdrawal. Indonesia in the future, "he concluded.