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Trade growth hinges on vaccination as govt seeks 11 deals in 2021
The Trade Ministry hopes exports will rebound 4.2 percent in real terms in 2021.
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Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi gestures during a press conference in Jakarta on Jan. 11. (Courtesy of the Trade Ministry/-)
I
ndonesia’s trade recovery this year hinges on the success of COVID-19 vaccination in the country and abroad after a deep export plunge in 2020.
Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi said successful vaccination programs would allow advanced and emerging economies to return to normalcy in the second and fourth quarters of the year, respectively, at the latest.
The Trade Ministry hopes exports will rebound 4.2 percent in real terms this year. Exports were down 10.82 percent year-on-year (yoy) in the third quarter of last year.
“We believe that when the vaccinations are done, the economy will start moving,” Lutfi said during a virtual press conference on Monday. “We have been able to see [recoveries] in commodities such as soybeans and corn, whose prices have started to pick up on the international market as economies like China and other developed ones have started moving.”
Read also: Indonesia books highest export value in 2 years in November as global trade recovers
Indonesia is planning to begin inoculating frontline medical workers and civil servants on Wednesday in a bid to achieve herd immunity in less than 12 months.
The country’s imports have fallen more precipitously than its exports. Indonesia booked a US$2.61 billion trade surplus in November 2020, up from a deficit of $1.40 billion in the same month the year before, and in the January to November period, the trade surplus was $19.66 billion.
