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Sri Mulyani expects Omicron to little impact Q1 growth
The Finance minister said the government was unlikely to reimpose strict mobility curbs.
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Passengers wait to board an intercity train at Senen Station in Central Jakarta in 2020, as they head to their hometowns in the eastern part of Java for the new year holiday. (JP/Leo)
T
he Finance Ministry expects minimal impact from the spread of the Omicron variant on Indonesia's economic growth in the first quarter of this year as the government was less likely to impose strict curbs like it did last year.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Wednesday that curbs were unlikely because of the country's high vaccination rate, combined with the fact that the Omicron variant was less fatal than previous variants.
In the first quarter of last year the government imposed large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) to curb the spread of the virus, which led to a 0.7 percent annual contraction in gross domestic product (GDP).
“Omicron is different, and vaccines are already much more spread out with higher [vaccination] rates. Therefore, we hope the impact on economic activity will be less and that it will not be too deep like it was in the first quarter of 2021,” Sri Mulyani told reporters during a press conference.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had forecast the global economic recovery to be weighed down in the first quarter due to "impediments" arising from the spread of the Omicron variant, slowdowns in the United States and Chinese economies and rising inflation around the world.
A third wave of the coronavirus pandemic has begun to take hold across the country as cases have continued to rise since early January this year. On Feb. 1, the country recorded 16,021 new cases, the highest since the end of August last year.
But at the same time, more than 60 percent of Indonesia’s population have received their second vaccine dose, granting the nation better chances of withstanding the worst effects of the virus.
