President Jokowi Gives Five Directives on National Economic Recovery

By Office of Assistant to Deputy Cabinet Secretary for State Documents & Translation     Date 17 November 2021
Category: News
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President Jokowi, accompanied by Vice President Ma’ruf Amin and Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, enters the Plenary Cabinet Session room at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, Wednesday (17/11). (Photo by: Public Relations / Agung)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo Wednesday (17/11) during the Plenary Cabinet Session discussing the 2022 State Budget at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, highlighted five matters regarding national economic development.

They are as follows:

First, acceleration on the realization of State Budget and Regional Budget. Towards the end of 2021, President Jokowi ordered ministries/agencies and regional governments to accelerate the realization of government spending through the State Budget and the Regional Budget.

“It is November already. It’s almost December, so speed up the realization of the State and Regional Budgets. Every ministry and agency must concentrate on the realization of the State Budget. Minister of Home Affairs should also pay attention to those whose realization of the Regional Budget is still low. Remind them that matters regarding this Regional Budget is vital for our economic growth,” the President said.

The President also stated that the realization of the Social Protection Program has only reached 77 percent of the Budget Execution List (DIPA); the Labor-Intensive Program was at 67 percent, while the Support Program for MSMEs and Corporations was at 60 percent.

Second, be aware of the risks of global economic developments to the domestic economy.

“For example, economic slowdown in China. We should really monitor it since our exports to the country is big. Then, the risk of tapering off policy in the US. We should closely monitor the impacts and what we have to prepare, what we have to do,” he said.

President Jokowi also ordered his administration to be vigilant as well as to calculate and anticipate the impact of global inflation.

“Also, be aware of the commodity supercycle. We know that currently Indonesia’s leading export commodities are soaring. This generally only lasts 18 months. So, we must anticipative steps for that must be given by strengthening export-oriented management industries,” the President said.

Third, be aware of the potential for a prolonged pandemic which will also have an impact on the global economic slowdown. The President underscored that the State Budget should be the main instrument to drive growth and strengthen economic resilience, as well as accelerate competitiveness, especially export and investment competitiveness.

In addition, the President also underlined the need for sharpening and spending efficiency. He ordered that unnecessary routine spending be eliminated and shifted to productive spending.

“We have to make sure of it. This is important for 2022, early 2022, January 2022. We must be able to execute the budget. This means, in these months we will prepare the administrative work so that at the beginning of the year, in January, it can be executed. And we have to prepare, once again, the basis for that implementation,” he said.

Fourth, immediately push for investment realization. The Head of State revealed that there are many investment commitments. However, they are sometimes not monitored so their realization is slow. Therefore, he ordered relevant ranks to be focused on guarding and following up on investment commitments, including those obtained during his visit to three countries some time ago.

The President said that investment has a big contribution to Indonesia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“We must remember and must be aware that the State Budget only contributes approximately 15 percent of our GDP, meaning that the private sector, investment, state-owned enterprises, have a bigger contribution,” he said.

Fifth, a shared commitment to development of a green economy and transition to renewable energy.

“We have to make sure that this investment is going to replace coal plants with new and renewable energy, be it through the development of electric vehicles and batteries, as well as the construction of Green Industrial Park in North Kalimantan that also uses hydropower. It can really be realized and started immediately,” he remarked. (DND/UN)(FI/EP)                 

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