TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in an event with the Army Retiree Association at the Bogor Palace on Friday called for everyone to be cautious about the economic situation. He predicted that 2023 will be a dark year due to economic, food, and energy crises caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The president said the prediction came to light as he talked to the United Nations (UN) secretary general, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and G7 State leaders.

“They said to me ‘President Jokowi, this year we will find difficulties,’ and I asked what it would be like. ‘Next year will be a dark year, this is not only in Indonesia, but this is also the world, be careful,” Jokowi reiterated in opening the Bogor event on August 5.

Jokowi stated that he received information from the World Bank that 66 countries would collapse due to bad economic conditions. The figure, he went on, was initially only 9 countries, then increased by 25 countries, 42 countries, to become 66 countries.

"They calculate in detail, we really see what we are worried about and now 320 million people in the world are already suffering from acute hunger. I am saying this as it is."

Furthermore, Jokowi said that economic growth in several big countries such as Singapore, Europe, Australia, and America had fallen. However, the derivative of people's income is offset by rising prices of goods and inflation.

In Indonesia, he explained that the government is trying to control fuel prices so that inflation does not occur. However, the consequences of these actions made the subsidies disbursed by the government swell.

"The subsidy budget isn’t tiny, Rp502 trillion, for which no country dares to provide subsidies as big as Indonesia's," said Jokowi.

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH

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