The Government Does Everything to Overcome the Impact of Covid-19
Detiktoday.com – The pattern of demand (demand) and supply (supply) around the world is changing due to COVID-19 which naturally forms a new habit in the economy. Responding to this condition, the government has compiled various programs targeting economic recovery, both on the demand and supply side.
The government has revised the 2020 State Budget to support the National Economic Recovery (PEN) program. In the new revision, the government has expanded the budget deficit to 6.34% of GDP. Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency (Head of BKF), Febrio Nathan Kacaribu explained the efforts to recover the National Economy (PEN).
“The PEN program is intended to help increase people’s purchasing power and restore the Indonesian economy as a whole. Starting from the most vulnerable households, then to the business sector, the most vulnerable, namely Ultra Micro (UMi) and Enterprises, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises ( UMKM). Then working capital credit for corporations. We will also provide special treatment for the tourism sector, trade, and labor-intensive factories which we access very deeply and for a long time. So, all of this gradually we assess in a well-measured manner. Slowly we are starting to push economic activity. With the PEN program, it is hoped that the contraction of economic growth due to the pandemic crisis and activity restrictions will not be too deep, “he explained.
The development of PEN so far on the household side is that social protection is relatively the most effective. But on the other hand, it is still quite challenging. For health, absorption is still low due to constraints on implementation in the field such as delays in claims for treatment costs and incentives for health workers due to rigid administrative and verification constraints. But this July has been accelerated with the revision of the Minister of Health Decree. Furthermore, support for MSMEs has started, particularly the interest subsidy for KUR. This is indeed quite challenging because it involves dozens of banks and financial institutions whose data processing technology capacities are not the same.
One that is being encouraged and which is quite effective is a form of guaranteeing working capital loans paired with low-cost fund placements in banks. The government placed IDR 30 trillion in Bank Himbara and then encouraged by the guarantee, now more than IDR 20 trillion of new working capital loans have been created.
Tax incentives are still not optimal because taxpayers (WP) who are entitled to take advantage of the incentives do not submit applications and the need for more massive socialization involving the relevant stakeholders. Responding to this, we simplified the procedure to make it easier for potential beneficiaries to carry out.
The government is also working to improve PEN. Every policy and regulation issued in the framework of the PEN program, including monitoring and evaluation that we do every week will follow the current economic conditions. We evaluate all programs, which ones are working and which are less. For those that are less effective, we look for a faster way or change the program and so on so that it can be implemented according to community needs.
The government will continue policies that are preventive and adaptive to the development of cases and the impact of COVID -19. Although the signs of economic recovery are beginning to appear, the recovery is sure to come slowly. Because as long as an effective drug or vaccine has not been found, of course we are still faced with inherent risks. This risk continues to be accessed.
