TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - It is difficult to shun the surge in poverty and unemployment rate during the current pandemic, said Ubaidi S Hamidi, the Head of the State Budget Policy of the Finance Ministry’s Fiscal Policy Agency.

“We are aware of this condition that the increase in poverty and unemployment rate cannot be avoided, but we hope we can suppress the hike to the lowest figure,” said Ubaidi in a video conference on Friday, July 3, 2020.

Ubaidi said in the middle of these pressures Indonesia’s economy remained stable. He added this was evident the inflation rate that was still under control and investor sentiment that tended to improve. He added that the low inflation rate was attributable to the recent deflation of some food commodities.

“Because of abundant supplies, while demand is declining due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I think this is the main factor of the inflation rate that is at its lowest point,” Ubaidi opined.

The stability of the financial sector, meanwhile, has begun to improve, supported by various policies on the COVID-19 handling and risk mitigation. The government, he said, continued to conduct studies so as to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on the social economy sector.

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