Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the 2022 UOB Economic Outlook “Empowering the Indonesian Economy for Stronger Recovery”, State Palce 15 September 2021

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

May peace be upon us all

Om Swastiastu,

Namo Buddhaya,

Greeting of virtue.

Distinguished Ministers of the Indonesia Onward Cabinet,

Distinguished Deputy Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of UOB Mr. Wee Ee Cheong,

Distinguished President Director of PT Bank UOB Indonesia Mr. Hendra Gunawan,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

We all agree that health is a priority and economic activities are a must. The Government continues to seek the best solution to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and to keep the economy running. To that end, we continue to carefully and dynamically take the “gas and brake” measure by taking into account the latest condition. Alhamdulillah, COVID-19 cases continue to show a declining trend. We are very optimistic; yet we have to remain vigilant.

As a country with the world’s fourth largest population, Indonesia is not in the top ten of countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world. Our daily cases continue to drop from 56,000 in the peak on 15 July to 2,577 cases on 13 September 2021. This is a sharp decline. The percentage of our daily cases is now 13.6 daily cases per one million people, far below those of our neighboring countries in ASEAN.

The bed occupancy rate at our hospitals nationally is now at 13.8 percent, while the bed occupancy rate at Wisma Atlet that was previously at 92 percent has now dropped to 7 percent.

As of September 2021, our daily positivity rate stands at 2.64 percent, lower than that of the global positive rate at 8.34 percent. Our recovery rate is now at 94.03 percent, above the global average of 89.59 percent.

Regarding vaccine rollout, in terms of the number of people who are vaccinated we have inoculated 72.76 million people or 34.94 percent of the total population.

In terms of doses of vaccine that have been given, the percentage is now 42.2 percent. We will continue to accelerate vaccination. However, we must remain vigilant. We must remain disciplined in observing health protocols, including by wearing a face mask.

The Government has provided a number of incentives for the business world. Back in 2020, Ministry of Finance allocated a budget of Rp695.2 trillion for economic recovery with the budget realization amounting to Rp579.8 trillion. In 2021, the Ministry allocates Rp744.75 trillion with the realization as of July 2021 reaching Rp305.5 trillion.

We continue to strike a balance in the budget allocation for both the health sector and national economic recovery in order to push for a balance economic activity. The implementation of the public activity restriction (PPKM) policy from Level 1 to Level 4 is aimed at adjusting the “gas and brake” measure with the local condition and the latest situation.

The Government has carried out trial and allowed business to reopen with certain requirements and with strict health protocols, indicating that health remains our top priority but the economy is equally important. Alhamdulillah, our efforts to gradually restore economic activities are supported by the compliance of the public and business sector and our economy begins to rebound.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to appeal to the banking world and business players to carry out expansion, to immediately offer credits, and to immediately revive your businesses.

Once again, we have to make use this pandemic a momentum to transform Indonesia’s economy. We will also continue to develop sustainable economy, green economy and blue economy. We will not only rebuild our economy but will also produce a quality, sustainable and equitable economic growth. We have the chance to grow our economy even higher.

We have considerable market potential for export. Our trading partners also began to show recovery in the second quarter of 2021.

China’s economy grew by 7.9 percent year on year. The United States posted an economic growth of 12.2 percent. Japan posted a 7.6 percent growth and India even recorded a staggering 20.1 percent economic growth. We must grab this chance to increase our export to the highest amount possible.

Investment will also continue to grow along with various structural reforms that provide ease in doing business. We have also begun reforms in licensing through the risk-based online single submission (OSS) in an attempt create a better investment climate.

Once again, I would like to call on you to quickly tap this opportunity as we continue to ensure the health of our people and our economy to grow sustainably and equitably.

That concludes my remarks on this auspicious occasion.

I thank you.

Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. (RAS/EP)