The Jakarta Post
The COVID-19 pandemic is turning into a global economic crisis as most countries have fallen into recession. The pandemic has severely hit global demand, which in consequence has disrupted the global value chain, lowering total trade and discouraging investments. It also increases risk and uncertainty in the global financial market. Indonesia, while not officially in recession yet, is predicted to record another contraction in the third quarter of 2020. In the preceding quarter the economy shrank 5.32 percent year-on-year (yoy). The pandemic creates a low inflation and interest rate environment in Indonesia. The inflation rate has been below the 2020 target of 3±1 percent with core inflation, a good proxy for domestic demand, continuing to weaken. In response to that, BI’s seven-day reverse repo rate has been cut by 100 basis points (bps). As imports decelerated mor...