Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government will continue to focus on five strategies for strengthening economic recovery, following the International Monetary Fund lowering its projection of Indonesia's 2021 economic growth by 0.4 percent from 4.3 percent to 3.9 percent.
Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency of the Ministry of Finance, Febrio Kacaribu, made the remarks in Jakarta on Wednesday.
"The IMF's projection of Indonesia's economic growth for 2021, which is 3.9 percent, is still within the government's projection range of 3.7 to 4.5 percent," he said.
Indonesia's five strategies would continue to focus on efforts to control the pandemic, protect people's welfare, encourage national economic recovery, and increase competitiveness, he added.
Indonesia will continue to take advantage of the conducive global economic outlook while being aware of the risks, namely the presence of the Delta variant and the acceleration of vaccinations, he said.
In addition, the Finance Ministry has expressed concern about the normalization of the US monetary policy as an implication of accelerated economic recovery that has the potential to encourage a reversal of capital flows to the US, he added.
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The demand for export products, which is expected to remain robust, in line with the solid global growth outlook, will serve as an opportunity to continue to boost Indonesia's manufacturing performance in 2021, Kacaribu said.
Global trade volume in 2021 is projected to remain solid, with growth recorded at 9.7 percent, or an increase of 1.3 percent, he added.
The strong growth in trading activity shows that the external sector has become a major factor driving the growth of the global economy, he noted.
The threat of the Delta variant has encouraged Indonesia to strengthen policies in the health and social protection sector by increasing the budget allocation for national economic recovery, Kacaribu said.
"The state budget provides expansion of social protection and support for MSMEs accompanied by efforts to accelerate distribution," he added.
Indonesia is currently targeting to administer 1.5 million daily vaccinations and increase them further gradually, he said.
As of July 27, 2021, the cumulative total of vaccines that have been given to the public has reached 63.94 million doses, he added.
The government is also ensuring that vaccine stocks continue to be available so that the acceleration of vaccinations can be carried out according to the set targets, he said.
"Vaccination is indeed one of the key policies for every country to control the COVID-19 pandemic," he added.
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