Growth without Development

So far, the agriculture industry has been an example of continuing growth, but the welfare of farmers has not improved: it is growth without development.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Enny Sri Hartati

According to the latest data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the Indonesian economy again saw a contraction in the first quarter of 2021, of 0.74 percent. This means that the economy is still in a recession. What\'s more, quarterly growth is worsening. In fact, in Q3 2020, the economy grew 5.05 percent. Unfortunately, this growth did not continue. In Q4 2020, the economy shrank 0.42 percent on a quarterly basis, which even worsened in Q1 2021 to minus 0.96 percent.

Even so, economic recovery is progressing, as the percentage of contraction is getting smaller. Annual growth continued to improve from last year to Q1 2021. After suffering the deepest contraction of 5.32 percent in Q2 2020, the economy began to show signs of recovery in the successive quarters. The economic contraction narrowed to minus 5.32 percent in Q3 2020 and then to minus 2.19 percent in Q4 2020. Improvements were seen in both business sectors and production output.