Funds for the retail sector can be allocated through direct funding, credit subsidies, or greater business incentives, she remarked.
"We also need to be attentive to the retail sector because if the benefits and credits are provided only for MSMEs yet neglecting the retail sector, then the sector will not fully recover despite online marketplaces having sustained the sector," senior researcher, Umi Karomah, informed ANTARA in Jakarta on Thursday.
Karomah encouraged the government to allocate a greater segment of the rescue fund to the economic recovery post, especially to the retail sector, in order to boost the fund absorption rate this year after the PEN fund recorded an absorption rate of only 88.4 percent in 2021.
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"If the social assistance post received a greater percentage of the PEN, then I am afraid the absorption rate will not improve because the post is more prone to corruption and cannot escape complicated procedures," Karomah noted.
Apart from the retail sector, the senior researcher also highlighted that the service sector should receive equal attention through greater allocation of PEN incentives to the sector.
The service sector has a greater role to play in boosting economic recovery as compared to the food and beverage sector, she added.
"I also suggest the government to boost the housing and construction sectors as well as the transportation and tourism sectors," Karomah remarked.
Earlier, the government had announced that fund allocation for the national economic recovery in 2022 will focus on: the public assistance sector, with a budget of Rp154.8 trillion (US$10.8 billion); economic recovery sector, Rp141.4 trillion (US$9.89 billion) budget, and healthcare sector, Rp117.9 trillion (US$8.25 billion).
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Translator: Agatha Olivia V, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
