TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Deputy Governor of Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria expressed his optimism that the capital's economy would soon rise after the Public Activities Restrictions (PPKM) status in Jakarta dropped to level 3, which has eased restrictions for many businesses.

"With the PPKM easing on business premises, Insya Allah (God willing) the economy in Jakarta will continue to improve," Patria said, after reviewing the vaccination and blood donation event at 29 State Vocational High School, here on Saturday.

Patria said he is confident that the economy in Jakarta would recover and bounce back, but would need a long time to repair the conditions found in some sectors.

According to Patria, the Jakarta Provincial Government is currently accelerating the implementation of mass vaccinations to the community, in a bid to form herd immunity.

"This (the vaccination) will be in line with the improvement of Jakarta's economy," he remarked.

The current reopening of many business premises, he said, will have a positive impact on economic growth.

"It takes a long time, but we ensure that the economy will be better, in line with the increasing number of vaccinated people," he said.

On the other side, Patria also mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic, which started in March 2020, has increased the unemployment rate in Jakarta.

For that, he noted, the Jakarta government will conduct many programs that have been prepared, and some of them have already been carried out.

"The risk coming from the pandemic has to be faced," he added.

He also said, in the future the Jakarta Government will prepare various programs for community empowerment and economic sector recovery.

Earlier, the Representative Office of Bank Indonesia (BI) of Jakarta confirmed that the city had considerable capital to continue the economic recovery, following the increase in COVID-19 vaccinations, along with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) using digital payment systems.

"Vaccination and MSMEs become vital foundations to persevere the economic recovery trend through synergy and collaboration," BI Jakarta’s provincial representative, Onny Widjanarko, stated at the opening of JaKreatiFest 2021 here.

Based on the Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data on Jakarta, the city’s economic growth in the second quarter of 2021 rose to 10.9 percent and entered the positive zone, after having contracted by 1.91 percent during the first quarter of 2021, he remarked.

Read: 1,704 Covid-19 Patients in Jakarta Self-isolate at Home

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