Strong manufacturing PMI indicative of continued recovery: Finance Ministry

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency of the Finance Ministry Febrio Kacaribu assessed that the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) in March 2022, which strengthened from 51.2 in February to 51.3, illustrates continuing recovery.

"This positive trend is thanks to efforts to control the pandemic, including vaccination. With the support of the community, we will maintain this recovery while remaining careful regarding the dynamics that are currently occurring," Kacaribu noted in an official statement received here on Saturday.

The agency head remarked that the cooperation between the government and the community continues to bear fruit. This is shown by the level of pandemic control that is getting better, with the average daily case rate dropping rapidly and lower hospital occupancy rates as well as higher vaccination rates.

However, apart from the dynamics of the pandemic, the Indonesian economy is also faced with numerous global challenges that continue to be anticipated and mitigated through various policies, so that their impact is limited to the domestic economy, he stated.

"State Budget has and will continue to be used for the benefit of the community since social protection spending is effective in reducing poverty and remains a shock absorber in the midst of various economic risks being faced," he affirmed.

Until March 25, 2022, state budget allocation for the National Economic Recovery (PEN) program had reached Rp22.6 trillion that is being channeled for health, social protection, and recovery in the business sector.

Kacaribu stated that the improvement in Indonesia's Manufacturing PMI occurred in the midst of various dynamics of the global economy.

For instance, the Manufacturing PMI in China, which in March had contracted, from 50.4 to 48.1 and in Malaysia, from 50.9 to 49.6.

Meanwhile, several other countries also experienced a slowdown despite still being in the expansion zone. These countries include South Korea, from 53.8 to 51.2, and Thailand, from 52.5 to 51.8. The country that experienced strengthening was the Philippines, which rose to 53.2 owing to a decline in the number of COVID-19 cases.

With a faster decline in COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, Kacaribu is optimistic that expansion in the manufacturing sector would increase further in the future.
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