One of our challenges this year is that we can combine rebound and recoveryJakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's current challenge is to combine rebound and recovery of the national economy, which has experienced a downturn due to the impact of COVID-19, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said.
"One of our challenges this year is that we can combine rebound and recovery," she said during a working meeting with the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Monday.
Rebound itself means that the economy is growing at a high rate because of the low achievement in the previous quarter, she explained.
Indonesia's economy managed to soar to 7.07 percent (yoy) in the second quarter of this year, and one of the factors was that in the second quarter of 2020, it had experienced a contraction of minus 5.32 percent (yoy), she further elaborated.
To create economy with quality, Indonesia must script an economic rebound as well as a recovery, as the two will serve as the driving forces for the improvement of the economy, Indrawati said.
“Rebound could be just because the base is low, but it doesn't translate into recovery. People can rebound without recovery just because their pick-up base is low," she pointed out.
She emphasized that the rebound-recovery combination is needed given that the community activity restriction policy had stunted almost all supporting aspects of the economy, after it experienced improvements.
“The third quarter has some correction from various indicators. We expect that, maybe, in September (we) can still catch up because in July we went through community activities restriction policy throughout the month, and in August for up to two weeks," Indrawati added.
She said she also expected that the community activity restriction policy, under which some areas have begun to get downgraded from level 4 to level 3, especially in Java and Bali regions, to gradually restore people's economic activities.
Indrawati said the growth outlook for the national economy for the whole year is in the range of 3.7 percent to 4.5 percent, noting that in the third quarter, especially September, the economy is projected to recover more and grow normally.
Following aggregate demand component, Indonesian consumption is estimated to only grow 2.2 percent to 2.8 percent because, in the second quarter of 2021, it jumped, but the fourth quarter was depressed due to community activities restriction policy, the minister said.
“In the fourth quarter, on Christmas and New Year, (the consumption) is usually quite increased again. If COVID-19 did not threaten us, we could fully capitalize or take advantage of the momentum of the fourth quarter," she added.
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Translator: Astrid F H, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Sri Haryati
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