"I want to stress some things that must be a matter of concern for us all. The first is to remain focused and alert of the risk of crises. Prioritize public needs and national interests, (just because there is) political contestation, progress on government programs became stagnated," the president stated during the Plenary Session of the 2023 Semester 1 Report on State Budget at the Presidential Palace here on Monday.
According to the president, Indonesia should be grateful for being able to maintain national economic growth at a relatively high performance, at the rate of five percent, for six consecutive quarters.
Jokowi also noted that as per July 2023, the World Bank placed Indonesia on the list of upper middle income countries, though earlier, it was on the list of lower middle income countries in 2020 due to the pandemic.
"Even so, the situation we are facing in the second half of 2023 is not easy, and we must be cautious of several things," the head of state remarked.
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The president elaborated that one must be aware of the unstable global condition, geopolitical conflicts that impact economic development, as well as a decline in trade activities, coupled with the international agencies' predictions of global economic slowdown and increase in global interest rate, among other things.
"Global inflation is also relatively high, and then, we also see global trade fragmentation that impedes multilateral cooperation, and even many indicators on consumption and production highlight the situations, which there are the positive ones and also the ones that decline. These are what we must carefully pay attention to," Jokowi stated.
Hence, he stressed that the political race that will possibly take place prior to the 2024 General Election should not disturb the progress of government's programs.
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Translator: Rangga Pandu A J, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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