JAKARTA: Indonesia expects its unemployment rate to spike to 8.1%-9.2% this year due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, from 5.28% in 2019, according to presentations by cabinet ministers at a parliamentary hearing on Monday.
Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa told members of parliament’s finance commission the government sees 4 million to 5.5 million people losing their jobs this year. The unemployment rate may stay elevated in 2021 at 7.7%-9.1%, he added.
Indonesia’s gross domestic product in the second quarter was seen contracting by 3.8%, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told the same hearing, slightly more than her previous estimate of a 3.1% shrinkage. – June 22, 2020, Reuters
