Indonesia Starts to Crawl Out of Economic Recession

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan assured that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the Indonesian economy, a week after the Statistics Indonesia [BPS] announced that the country entered an economic recession.

“The Indonesian economy might be in recession because the GDP contracted by 3.49 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, as stated by the BPS,” said the former four star general in a meeting uploaded on the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy’s YouTube channel on 12 November.

Also read: Indonesia Faces Recession as Economy Shrinks 3.49 Percent in Q3

He maintained that there is still a silver lining behind the grim numbers. “But we are actually making our way out of the recession, as the numbers are still better than the second quarter of 2020, where the GDP contracted by 5.32 percent.”

Luhut also noted that the cashflow of the country’s banks continued unimpeded. “The banks’ cashflow showed that there are more than sufficient financial reserves for the country’s needs.”

Also read: Indonesia's Economy Contracts 5.32 Percent, Says Central Statistics Agency 

Earlier this month, Statistics Indonesia valued the Indonesian economy at Rp. 3.894 trillion [$270 billion] in the third quarter of 2020. Aside from Indonesia, the US, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, the EU, and Hong Kong also experienced economic recessions.

Governments around the world are also reportedly implementing policies to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is a major factor in triggering the global recession.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected the global economy to contract by up to 4.4 percent.

(Writer: Ade Miranti Karunia | Editor: Yoga Sukmana)

Source:

https://money.kompas.com/read/2020/11/12/211203426/luhut-sebut-ri-mulai-keluar-dari-resesi-ekonomi.