It seems that the government will find it increasingly difficult to achieve the gross domestic product (GDP) growth target of at least five percent next year if the GDP growth this year is below three percent
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Chairman of the Budget Agency of the House of Representatives (DPR), Muhidin Mohamad Said urged the government to seek economic growth of four percent this year to achieve the five-percent growth target in 2022.

"It seems that the government will find it increasingly difficult to achieve the gross domestic product (GDP) growth target of at least five percent next year if the GDP growth this year is below three percent," Said remarked at the DPR plenary meeting here on Tuesday.

According to Said, one means of achieving four-percent growth this year is to expedite the vaccination program, as it will help to suppress the number of COVID-19 cases.

This effort is deemed necessary on account of the fact that the daily COVID-19 case count had reached over 20 thousand amid the overloaded room occupancy rate for patients at hospitals.

Said noted that economic recovery had, in fact, been strengthening based on the economic and business indicators recorded until the first quarter of 2021.

"However, we must not become careless in the midst of a surge in COVID-19 cases occurring since last week," he stated.

Hence, Said commended the steps and efforts made by the government to achieve the daily vaccination target of up to 1.3 million people.

"We hope this step would reduce the fatality rate in COVID-19 patients. Hopefully, the surge in COVID-19 cases would not interfere with the government's economic recovery program," he affirmed.

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Said also reminded the government to continue to formulate fiscal policies that are effective, flexible, and responsive, albeit always maintaining a cautious and accountable stance.

He is optimistic that state revenue in 2022 would grow better than this year, although next year's tax revenue would still receive fiscal subsidies to support the national economic recovery program.

"In line with the 2022 economic growth target, we expect state revenues to grow in parallel," he stated.

Said is also upbeat that next year's government spending would be right on target and optimally boost the national economic recovery since 2022 will be the last opportunity for the government to implement a countercyclical policy.

"The government has spent so much that it recorded a deficit of above three percent of the GDP in the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN). Hence, there must be an improvement in all expenditures made by the government in the previous year," he affirmed.


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