Ari Kuncoro in a TV Webinar: Maintaining the Resilience of the Economic Support Industrial Sector in the Middle of the Pandemic
Hana Fajria – Public Relations of FEB UI
Depok – (19/11/2020) The industrial sector in Indonesia is facing a heavy blow as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The decline in production capacity also occurred in the 5 (five) leading sub-sectors, such as the food and beverage industry, the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, the automotive or transportation equipment industry, the metal and electronic goods industry, and the textile and apparel industry. In fact, so far, these industrial sub-sectors have greatly contributed to the national GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and generate foreign exchange from exports.
Professor Ari Kuncoro, Rector of Universitas Indonesia as a guest speaker in the IDX Channel TV Special Dialogue Webinar, with the theme “Maintaining the Resilience of the Economic Support Industrial Sector in the Middle of the Pandemic”, hosted by Clara Antawidjaja, on Thursday (19/11/2020), said that the government should maintaining the strategy for the momentum of economic recovery in general and economic recovery process in specific industrial sectors that are experiencing improvement.
In addition, another strategic step is to optimize the use of domestic industrial raw materials and provide industrial tax and excise incentives. Thus, it is expected that the industry will continue to run while paying attention to health protocols, because the safety and health of workers remains the most important.
“Referring to the Maslow’s hierarchy, the industrial sub-sectors that will be recovered in the first stage have the characteristics of basic needs, such as the food industry, household essentials, to manufacturing. The gradual improvement in economic recovery must be sustainable and the balance of economic and health recovery must be in line, “said Ari.
Fast recovery pattern arises with encouraging information on vaccinations, a decrease in new positive cases, the omnibus law, and as the Europe experiencing a second lock down, capital may well be flowing to Indonesia. This combination provides good sentiment from the production side. Thus, the prediction of 0% economic growth in the fourth quarter can be achieved.
Ari continued, to improve the economy, the middle class must be convinced that the handling of Covid-19 is still ongoing by continuing to carry out the 3M health protocol, namely washing hands, wearing masks and maintaining safe distance. In the midst of the pandemic, domestic and export demands have actually increased. As long as the Covid-19 can be handled well, the demand side will continue to increase. Indonesia can also take advantage because the expansion of the export market amid the pandemic has a multiplier effect.
“I am quite optimistic that with the economic recovery in Q4, imports of raw materials have started to rise. It can be seen from the demand side that has begun to bounce, from the side of businessmen’s expectations, improvement has been started. Expect positive growth at 1.5% as momentum in 2021. The recovery in 2021 will be improved with vaccines as the game changer. In December-January there will be vaccinations. This will change the health-supporting industry, and it will be used as a momentum for 2021,” said Ari in closing the session. (hjtp)
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