JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is grateful that Indonesia has been able to overcome the impact of the spread of COVID-19. He said the hard work he had put in for approximately nine months had yielded positive results.
"The hard work is starting to show positive signals that we have seen. Alhamdulillah, the reports I receive today, active cases of COVID-19 are lower than the world average," he said, at the 2020 Bank Indonesia Annual Meeting, Thursday, December 3.
Jokowi specified that Indonesia had 12.72 percent of active cases, while the world average was 28.04 percent. Then the recovery rate also got better, reaching 84.02 percent. This figure is better than the world average cure rate of 69.56 percent.
"We must be careful not to be careless and we still have to be disciplined in implementing health protocols. Be vigilant so that a second wave does not occur which will greatly harm the efforts and sacrifices we have made," he said.
Not only in the health sector, said Jokowi, positive signals were also seen in the economic sector. Where in the second quarter of 2020 the Indonesian economy contracted by minus 5.32 percent and in the third quarter of 2020 the economy contracted again, namely minus 3.49 percent. However, this shows that Indonesia has passed its lowest point.
"(Now) the turning point is towards improvement, the positive trend is improving, and with this momentum I am sure that we will again move towards a positive direction in the fourth quarter and beyond," he said.
Furthermore, Jokowi explained that his prediction was not without reason. Because, this is in line with the manufacturing industry showing improvement in October 2020. The improvements were supported by an increase in imports of raw materials and capital expenditures in October.
"The manufacturing industry is a contributor to GDP. The trade balance, which experienced a surplus of US $ 8 billion in the third quarter of 2020, also supports the external sector. Of course, we must guard against this positive growth momentum. We must focus on moving forward," he said.
The focus referred to by Jokowi is on efforts to get out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting from preparing vaccines to careful vaccination programs.
"So that we can rise up and recover from the pandemic," he said.
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