Jakarta (ANTARA) - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani accentuated that the nation’s economic recovery was increasingly dependent on the handling of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and economic activities in the second semester.
"Our own recovery relies on the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic activities in the second semester," Mulyani remarked during a virtual press conference here on Monday.
The minister opined that if COVID-19 handling measures were effective and went hand-in-hand with the opening of economic activities, the economy would recover in the third quarter, with a positive growth of 0.4 percent, and it would accelerate to three percent in the fourth quarter.
"If that occurs, our economy, as a whole, will remain in the positive zone for the entire year," Sri Mulyani affirmed.
According to the minister, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had reminded the ranks of ministers and regional government (pemda) to not lose sight of the main agendas in driving economic recovery.
"Thus, in the third quarter, the economy would continue to move in the positive zone at 0-0.4 percent and touch two to three percent in the fourth quarter. Hence, our economy as a whole can continue to grow positively in 2020," Sri Mulyani noted.
Hence, the minister said the draft of the 2021 State Budget (APBN) also hinted at the speed of handling COVID-19 influencing the pace of economic recovery. On July 21, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut B. Pandjaitan had highlighted the government’s persistent endeavors to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and concurrently aid economic recovery.
"The president announced yesterday (the formation of a new committee for handling COVID-19 and economic recovery). We have been summoned. The government is handling COVID-19 and ways to realize economic recovery in an integrated manner," he remarked.
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