President Jokowi: Pandemic Control is Key to Economic Growth in 2022
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo delivers his remarks at the 2021 Kompas100 CEO Forum, Thursday (18/11), at the State Palace, Jakarta. (Source: Screenshot of Presidential Secretariat YouTube Channel)
The key to economic growth in 2022 amidst global uncertainty and complexity lies in the COVID-19 pandemic controls, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said.
“The key to the economic issues in 2022 is on how we control the COVID-19. If we can’t control it, the economy will go down and fall again,” The President said in his remarks at the 2021 Kompas100 CEO Forum, Thursday (11/18), at the State Palace, Jakarta.
On that occasion, the President reminded all related elements to remain careful in dealing with the pandemic so that the next wave will not occur in Indonesia, while many countries have experienced it.
The opening of community activities, the President added, must be gradual and in stages by taking into account the development of the pandemic situation.
“I always convey to Ministers, regional leaders that the opening [community activities] must be in stages. No need to rush to open them all. Consider the positivity rate, the bed occupancy rate (BOR) in hospitals, recheck testing and tracing numbers in each area, everything. We have to be careful,” he said.
After experiencing the peak of COVID-19 cases in the middle of this year, the pandemic situation in the country is currently under control with 300 to 500 cases on a daily basis.
The President underscored that the cooperation of all elements of the nation is the key to the success of pandemic control.
“The key is cooperation, to join hands, and solidarity among all elements of the nation. The key is there and we have proved it in July, August, September that we can do that,” he said.
Furthermore, the President said that the Government also continues to accelerate the vaccination progress in all regions, which is one of the keys to the pandemic handling.
For the record, Indonesia has to date administered 219 million vaccines shots to the public despite difficult challenges in distributing vaccines throughout the country.
“We have the most complicated managements, including its logistics management and transportation management. We have injected 219 million doses. By the end of this year, we hope it will reach 280-290 million doses,” the President remarked. (FID/UN) (RIF/MUR)
