TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo warned about the impact of the dry season due to El Nino on slowing economic growth in mid-2023. He made the statement during the Indonesia Onward Cabinet meeting at Jakarta State Palace, Monday, July 3, which was attended by all ministers and heads of institution.
“Even though we have built thousands or more than 5,000 ponds and 38 dams that will be 61 next year, this matter of water supply in ponds and dams has to be managed properly. And there is also the potential for land and forest fires,” the President said.
He also asked the cabinet to maintain economic stability ahead of the 2024 General Elections, expecting that political competition which is starting to heat up will not disrupt government programs.
“Keep monitoring non-judicial settlements of past gross human rights violations, and restore security in Papua as soon as possible, especially in Nduga, Intan Jaya, and other districts,” Jokowi said.
During the meeting, he asked the ministers to be careful about the possibility of a global economic slowdown in mid-2023. However, he claimed Indonesia’s economic growth was above 5 percent based on the first-semester report of the 2023 State Budget.
This prompted the World Bank to re-include Indonesia in the list of upper-middle-income countries as of July 2023. In addition, the state head claimed that Indonesia’s economic recovery process was relatively fast after dropping to lower-income countries in 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Nevertheless, the situation we are facing in the second half of 2023 is not easy and we must be aware of a number of things. First, the unstable global economy and then ongoing geopolitical tensions that affect economic growth, and trade activity which is weakening which is evident from our dropping exports,” Jokowi said.
M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH
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