Indonesia’s economy returned to growth last year, as surging commodity prices helped drive a recovery from a COVID-19-triggered recession, official data showed yesterday, although officials warned the outlook depended on how well the fast-spreading Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is managed.
Southeast Asia’s biggest economy expanded 3.69 percent year-on-year, the Indonesian Central Statistics Bureau said, having contracted in 2020 for the first time since 1998 during the regional financial crisis.
The healthy rebound came largely on the back of declining COVID-19 cases and robust exports, as prices for key commodities, such as palm oil, coal and nickel, rose significantly, bureau head Margo Yuwono told a news conference.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Moreover, in an optimistic sign, the economy grew a forecast-beating 5.02 percent year-on-year in the final three months of last year.
“We hope the momentum of the economic recovery will be maintained in 2022, as long as we all agree that health protocols are critical, so daily cases will decline and mobility will get better,” Yuwono said.
The nation’s trade surplus for last year reached US$35.34 billion, its highest in 15 years, the bureau reported earlier.
Indonesia was hit hard in July last year, as the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 swept the country, forcing the government to impose tighter social-distancing restrictions that hobbled businesses.
A subsequent easing of those restrictions as cases declined in the fourth quarter allowed for a bounceback in some sectors, including transportation.
However, daily caseloads are once again surging owing to the Omicron variant, with the country reporting 30,000 cases a day compared with fewer than 1,000 in December, forcing officials to reimpose containment measures in Jakarta, Bandung and Bali.
The government expects daily cases to peak by late this month or early next month.
Despite worries over Omicron, the Central Bank of Indonesia has projected that the economy would grow 4.7 to 5.5 percent this year, while the IMF has forecast an expansion of 5.6 percent this year and 6 percent next year.
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