TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Asian Development Bank or ADB predicted that Indonesia's economy will grow 4 percent in 2021. ADB's Vice President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, Bambang Susantono, said that the latest outlook will officially be issued in the near future.

The growth forecast released by the agency, according to Bambang, will be lower than that predicted by the government previously. “Last July, we (Indonesia) estimated 4 percent growth. It tends to be lower at around 3.5 percent to 4 percent, and that will usually be issued in September,” said Bambang in an online discussion on Tuesday, August 31.

On several occasions, the government announced that Indonesia's economic growth is forecasted to be in the range of 3.7 percent to 4.5 percent. The figure was down from the previous projection following yet another wave of Covid-19 in July.

Bambang opined that with the figure, the economic recovery has been already occurring. Last year, Indonesia experienced a recession with the gross domestic product (GDP) at minus 2.1 percent.

Despite the improvement trend, Bambang said Indonesia’s GDP has not yet returned to that before the pandemic. He hoped the national economy could get back on track. The government, meanwhile, needs to be aware of a K-shaped recovery, meaning that different sectors recover at different rates. ADB expected there would not be a widening gap of inequalities further.

Read: Covid-19; ADB Projects Indonesia Economic Growth at 2.5%

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