Health and Economy under One Control

Kompas/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Wedding souvenir vendors tout their products on Monday (20/7/2020) at Jatinegara Market in Jakarta. The Covid-19 epidemic has devastated the sector, which has seen sales plunge more than 80 percent as a result the attendant public health policy and ban on large public events, including weddings.

The government has formed a committee to ensure that economic recovery and the public health crisis is managed hand in hand during the Covid-19 epidemic.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The spread of Covid-19 has yet to show any signs of abating. In addition to the health crisis, the epidemic has also disrupted economic activities.

The government has formed a special committee for managing the Covid-19 outbreak and recovering the national economy to ensure that the economic and public health crises are managed hand in hand.

The committee, established under Presidential Regulation No. 82/2020 dated 20 July 2020, comprises a policy committee, the National Covid-19 Task Force, and the National Economic Recovery and Transformation Task Force. The committee reports directly to the President.

Read also: Pandemic: From Health, Economy, to Politics

The committee was formed to synergize policies in managing economic recovery and the Covid-19 outbreak.

The committee’s establishment also streamlines or dissolves a number of teams, coordinating bodies and government bodies that previously managed Covid-19 mitigation. The members of the disbanded teams, agencies or coordinating bodies have returned to their respective ministries or committees.

Task Force’s Duties

The bodies that have been dissolved include the National Economic Recovery and Transformation Policy and/or Task Force Committee. The Covid-19 task forces at both central and regional levels have also been disbanded and replaced by the Covid-19 Management and Economic Recovery Committee.

ANTARA/SIGID KURNIAWAN

Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto (second right) speaks with National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) chief Lt. Gen. Doni Monardo (left), State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir (second left) and Deputy SOEs Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin after a meeting with President Joko Widodo on Monday (20/7/2020) at the presidential palace compound in Jakarta. The President has signed a Government Regulation (PP) on the management of COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery that regulates the establishment of the COVID-19 Management and Economic Recovery Committee.

State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir, who chairs the committee, said in Jakarta on Monday that managing the health crisis and economic recovery should go hand in hand. At present, public health and economic policies were often at odds with each other.

He said that when the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) were implemented, the activities at a number of factories were halted due to logistical disruption, which caused a sharp increase in the number of unemployed and poor people.

"We do not want people to carry out activities freely during the ‘new normal’ without strict health protocols. If there is a second wave [of infection], the economy will again be affected. There is a gap between these two. No matter how narrow this gap, it must be addressed, " he said.

Read also: Covid-19 Vaccine under Clinical Trial

Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data shows that as of March 2020, the number of poor people in the country reached a total of 26.42 million.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati shared a similar concern during an interview with Kompas on 29 May 2020.

"The notion that the government is only concerned about economic matters is not true. The problem starts with [public] health, so it would be extremely illogical for the government to not manage health," she added.

Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto, who has been appointed as the coordinator of the policy committee, said that the committee had been formed to devise a plan while implementing the Covid-19 and economic recovery programs.

"The President assigned the task to ensure that the committee can prepare a plan and execute it, so that Covid-19 and economic recovery can be managed hand in hand," he said.

Priority

Deputy SOEs Minister Gunadi Sadikin, who chairs the National Economic Recovery and Transformation Task Force, said that the main duty of the task force was to maintain economic growth. Indonesian growth was projected to contract in the second quarter of 2020 as a result of the economic disruptions caused by the Covid-19 health crisis. In the first quarter of 2020, the Indonesian economy grew 2.97 percent.

KOMPAS/IRMA TAMBUNAN

A postal worker takes a photograph of an Orang Rimba man on Friday (17/7/2020) in Bukit Duabelas Jambi. Postal workers distributed a three-month social assistance fund of Rp 1.8 million from the Social Affairs Ministry to the indigenous people, who live in the rainforests around the Terab River in Batanghari regency, Jambi.

"We will identify which sectors are the most affected and what programs must be prioritized to maintain economic growth," he said.

Social assistance, labor-intensive programs, and other programs aimed to protect the incomes of workers, both formal and informal, are to be prioritized.

Meanwhile, National Disaster Mitigation Agency head Doni Monardo, who also chairs the Covid-19 Task Force, said that one of the main programs of the task force was to increase testing capacity to 50,000 swab tests per day, up from about 20,000 tests per day at present.

"The Covid-19 Task Force is an inseparable part. We should not be exposed to both Covid-19 and layoffs," said Doni.

Separately, M. Chatib Basri, who was finance minister in 2013-2014, said that the financial stimulus for recovering the national economy had been minimal in terms of both disbursement and effectiveness due to the absence of demand.

If it is not effective, just divert some of the funds to direct cash assistance.

"It needs to be evaluated whether the business incentives have been effective or not. If it is not effective, just divert some of the funds to direct cash assistance," Chatib said on Monday.

Executive director Mohammad Faisal of the Center for Reform on Economics (CORE) Indonesia said that a great many schemes and programs had been implemented to cope with the impacts of Covid-19. However, they had been poorly implemented because of a lack of communication.

Kompas

A worker uses a pallet to wheel stacks of sealed rupiah banknotes on Friday (10/7/2020) at the warehouse of the Bank BNI Sudirman branch in Jakarta. The Finance Ministry has again rolled out its rupiah redenomination plan in Finance Ministerial Regulation No. 77/PMK.01/2020 on the 2020-2024 Strategic Plan of the Finance Ministry.

"That should be straightened out. The key is how to implement the [schemes] immediately," he said. (AGE/NTA/KRN)