The Ukraine War, US Interest Rates, And Rising Commodity Prices Are Challenges For Indonesia's Economic Recovery

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Finance, Suahasil Nazara, said that the government continues to be aware of global risks that are experiencing escalation, even though Indonesia's economic recovery conditions continue.

“Some time ago we heard about monetary normalization in the United States. Then recently we have seen geopolitical tensions in Russia and Ukraine escalate and are now a source of considerable global risk. Of course, we have to be very careful about this", he said in an official statement quoted on Tuesday, March 22.

According to the Deputy Minister of Finance, the direct impact of the escalation in Eastern Europe has an effect on the prices of energy and food commodities, such as coal and crude palm oil (CPO), which have increased. Likewise, nickel is increasing very quickly, he continued.

“In several countries, including the United States, inflation has reached a fairly high level, even the highest in the last 40 years. This causes global volatility", he said.

Meanwhile, global financial market volatility also increased due to the geopolitical sentiment, although in the last few days it decreased slightly. However, the Deputy Minister of Finance emphasized that this global financial market pressure must continue to be watched out for.

"All of this could be a downside risk for global growth prospects, which we must anticipate later in Indonesia", he said.

For this reason, the government together with financial and fiscal sector policies will continue to be aware of the impact of these propagations on Indonesia's economic conditions.

“If global conditions become more volatile, we must be careful. Through the financial channel, what kind of impact will it have, through the trade channel there can also be an impact, and then domestically it will have an impact on inflation. We must monitor and anticipate the impact on growth together", he explained.

The Deputy Minister of Finance hopes that the economic growth in the first quarter of 2022 will grow better, in line with the ongoing trend of economic recovery in Indonesia.

“This year, we hope that we will still get a combination of a boost for recovery, economic growth due to the impetus for recovery, and a boost in economic growth figures, which was slightly negative last year. This is a kind of technical rebound, we still get it", concluded the Deputy Minister of Finance, Suahasil Nazara.