Increasing the percentage of municipal budget spending on local products will help local enterprises survive economic uncertainty and enhance regional economic growth, according to the acting mayor of Bandung, Yana Mulyana.
"According to the President, if the spending of state, regional, and state-owned enterprises' budgets are focused on domestic-made products, it will bolster domestic economic growth," Mulyana said in a statement issued here on Saturday.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic decline not only in Indonesia but also in other countries, the acting mayor noted.
Bolstering economic activities in the region will be the municipal authority's priority as the COVID-19 pandemic has been declared to be already in the endemic stage, he said.
"We hope the budget refocusing (to support MSMEs) will bolster post-pandemic economic recovery in Indonesia," Mulyana noted.
The acting mayor confirmed that the municipal authority has established a specialized task force for economic recovery in the city.
The task force personnel comprise a head, a deputy, a secretary, and eleven working groups that will work together to recover the city's economy from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The working groups have been assigned with comprehensive duties to bolster economic activities in Bandung, such as handling the halal certification program, product quality testing, and business matching process, as conducted by Bandung city's Trade and Industry Office, he said.
Earlier, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had asked state, regional, and state-owned enterprises to spend 40 percent of their budget on purchasing domestic-made products.
"We need not be grandiose, just set the target to 40 percent because the percentage will trigger our economic development in the central government-level and regional authorities will achieve 1.71percent (growth target)," Jokowi said in Bali on Friday (March 25, 2022).
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Translator: Bagus Ahmad R, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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