JakartaGlobe-Dec 2, 2022
Multiple high-ranking government officials have raised serious concerns about the economic hardships to be faced in 2023, noting the necessity to mitigate such risks. In a keynote address at the National Investment Meeting held on Wednesday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo explained that Indonesia and many other countries were facing economic woes that will be prolonged into 2023, and he expects a global recession to start “early next year”. Following the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, hopes of an economic recovery occurring in 2022 were dashed as trade and financial sanctions hampered the flow of goods and services among nations across the globe, which triggered multiple problems including sluggish economic growth, rising inflation, as well as higher interest rates. Indonesia maintained an impressive 5.72 percent year-on-year (yoy) gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the third quarter of this year, while bringing down inflation to 5.71 percent in October from 5.95 percent in the previous month. However, signs of a slowdown have become more visible in the recent days as the country’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, an indicator of industry health by S&P Global, has fallen in October with export orders being the main factor. The country’s currency has also taken a beating, with the rupiah depreciating by 10.5 percent year-to-date (ytd) to Rp 15,743 per United States dollar, according to state-owned Bank Mandiri as of Tuesday. “We all need to have the same feeling, a mutual sense, an agreement that the current situation is not easy. Hardships will happen to all countries,” President Jokowi said. To face these hardships, he called for fiscal and monetary policymakers to be “careful” in making economic decisions due to the high-risk situation, where the world is “not normal”. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2022/12/02/global-chaos-could-get-in-way-of-2023-recovery-jokowi-warns.html
