Sultan HB X Asks Regencies/Cities To Accelerate Distribution Of Social Assistance

Sri Sultan HB X/ANTARA

YOGYAKARTA - Governor of the Special Region of Yogyakarta Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X asked districts/cities to accelerate the distribution of social assistance (bansos) for the community so as to encourage economic growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We encourage regencies/cities to consistently distribute their BLT. With the hope that the more money that goes out to the community, the better, don't delay it, so that (economic) growth will continue," said Sultan quoted by Antara, Wednesday, July 28 .

With the strict implementation of PPKM, the representative office of Bank Indonesia DIY predicts the DIY economy will still grow between 4.5 to 5.3 percent in the second quarter of 2021, while in the first quarter of 2021, the DIY economy will grow 6.14 percent.

Sultan said the increase in positive cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia and DIY which was responded to by the PPKM policy to PPKM Level 4 had been followed by adaptations in the essential, critical and non-critical sectors.

The King of Yogyakarta also invited all parties to jointly seek the effectiveness of vaccination as a trigger for changing the situation.

"In implementing PPKM, let's take a stand and understand together that public safety is the highest law, and it needs to be emphasized that there is no dichotomy to clash with health recovery or economic conditions. These two aspects must go hand in hand," said Sri Sultan.

He hopes that efforts to control the pandemic through vaccination and enforcement of health protocols can be carried out maximally. With this, it is hoped that it will generate positive expectations for activities and community optimism to return to productivity.

Meanwhile, Deputy Head of Bank Indonesia Representative Office DIY Miyono encouraged the implementation of a tourism recovery strategy in DIY because tourism is an important sector in DIY.

According to BI data, the tourism sector directly contributes about 8.8 percent to the DIY economy, while the tourism supporting sector encourages DIY's economy to grow up to 45.2 percent.

"Recovery of DIY tourism can be done by making innovations, both in the institutional sector, products, processes, and marketing. These all aim to increase national economic resilience with the target of participating in the recovery of Indonesian tourism," he said.