Sri Mulyani Highlights Signs of Indonesia's Economic Recovery in OECD Meeting

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani revealed signs that Indonesia's economic recovery is underway following the Covid-19 pandemic. The indicators refer to the household consumption, investment, and export performance which are starting to see a positive trend based on the latest reports.

"The demand side is strongly influenced by consumption. The investment sector has begun to recover, and the export sector has also been reviving in the last two quarters. So we see these as good signs for Indonesia's economic recovery," said Sri during a virtual meeting with officials of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Thursday, March 18, 2021.

The recovery is also evident from the economic growth that began to move towards a better direction after the country experienced its deepest contraction in the second quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2020, economic growth contraction improved by 2.19 percent from the previous -3.49 percent in the third quarter and -5.32 percent in the second quarter.

However, Sri Mulyani did not deny that the country had faced tough challenges throughout 2020 as it was forced to take fiscal policies to loosen the state budget deficit by up to 6 percent in response to the weakening economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The deficit was twice wider than the normal condition which was only 3 percent. In the previous year, Indonesia's state budget deficit had even been suppressed to 1.9 percent. However, the figure was claimed to be lower than that of other OECD members.

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FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA