The blackouts conducted by the state power company PT PLN are likely to slow economic growth in the fourth quarter of this year, said an official at the Jakarta chapter of the Central Statistic Agency (BPS).
“If the blackouts go on until December, it will tend to slow economic growth in the fourth quarter, which will affect economic growth for this whole year,” BPS head Agus Suherman told reporters Friday.
He said electricity was the energy source for all industrial businesses, regardless of their size. “Large enterprises may have generators, which will help, but small enterprises like restaurants will suffer,” he said.
Arianto A. Patunru, the director of the Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM) at the University of Indonesia, voiced a similar view on a possible slowdown in economic growth during the fourth quarter.
“[Slow growth] is very possible if the blackouts continue,” he told The Jakarta Post.
He agreed small enterprises would suffer the most, but he emphasized that big business players would also feel the pinch because fuel costs for generators would increase their total production costs.
Arianto said it was time for the central government to review PLN’s monopoly on providing electricity as currently, PLN was pushed beyond its capacity, providing electricity with minimum resources.
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