President Jokowi Forms New Committee to Curb Covid-19, Revive Economy

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has established a new committee to contain the coronavirus outbreak and revive the nation’s economy after signing a government regulation on Covid-19 mitigation and national economic recovery Monday, July 20.

The new Government Regulation No 82/2020 has also dismissed the previous task force for the acceleration of the handling of Covid-19.

Led by the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartato, the new committee oversees two task force units. They are the Covid-19 Task Force, which remains under the leadership of Doni Monardo, head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), and the National Economic Recovery Task Force, which is led by State-Owned Enterprises Deputy Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

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“The president assigned the team to create and execute programs so that the Covid-19 mitigation and economic recovery can be done simultaneously, in the sense that the programs will be supervised by a single institution for optimal coordination,” said Airlangga during a virtual press conference at the presidential office on Monday, July 20.

The team is tasked with evaluating the national economic conditions, multi-year economic program, development of Covid-19 cases, and availability of test kits and vaccines, he said.

In the committee, Airlangga will be assisted by six other ministers who serve as his deputies. They are Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, Coordinating Minister for Political, Law, and Security Mahfud MD, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy. Also, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani, Minister of Health Terawan Agus Putranto, Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian. Meanwhile, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir serves as the committee’s chief executive.

(Writers: Ihsanuddin, Inang Jalaludin Shofihara | Editors: Icha Rastika, Anggara Wikan Prasetya)

Sources: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/07/21/08571741/jokowi-bubarkan-gugus-tugas-percepatan-penanganan-covid-19?page=2.

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/07/20/15465031/airlangga-pimpin-tim-pemulihan-ekonomi-dan-penanganan-covid-19-ini-tugasnya?page=1.