The combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war, called “Crisis Upon Crisis,” could cause the national economy to decline to 4.6 percent in 2022, Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Bambang Soesatyo stated.
Soesatyo remarked in a statement here on Monday that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had issued a warning on April 16, 2022, regarding the prolonged COVD-19 pandemic coupled with the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war. The IMF called it as “Crisis Upon Crisis.”
The Russia-Ukraine war disrupted the commodity prices, trade, and global finance market, he stated. Several prices of household and energy commodities skyrocketed uncontrollably, thereby causing wild inflation, he remarked.
Soesatyo stated that on April 5, 2022, the World Bank had projected economic growth for countries in East and Pacific Asia, including Indonesia, as an early warning.
Most of them were forecast to experience slow economic growth due to stress factors, including the Russia-Ukraine war. Indonesia’s economic growth was projected to be capped at 5.1 percent in 2022, which is 0.1 percent less than the projection released on October 2021.
Worst-case scenario is that Indonesia’s economy could decline to 4.6 percent.
To address the issue, he urged the Financial System Stability Committee comprising the Finance Ministry, Bank of Indonesia, the Financial Services Authority, and the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS) to improve coordination to anticipate the “Crisis Upon Crisis.”
“All of the nation’s (efforts) must be channeled towards recovery and strengthening the economy, both in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has not yet ended, or the impact of the Russo-Ukrainian war whose end had yet to be seen,” he stated.
He affirmed that the government could control inflation, push for monetary stability, and maintain the financial system and credit and financing to businesses in priority sectors to support economic growth and exports as well as work towards continuing to increase economic and financial inclusion.
More importantly, they must continue to support micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as the backbone of the national economy by approaching in an extensive way as well as providing digital-based alternative financing, including through BWM Digital, P2P Lending, and Securities Crowdfunding.
He was confident that Indonesia could seize the opportunity presented by the G20 momentum in dealing with the various impacts of the “Crisis Upon Crisis.”
“The Indonesian government must be able to formulate a comprehensive proposal to prevent and overcome the damages that occurred as a result of the ‘Crisis Above Crisis,'” he concluded.
Source: Antara News