BANDUNG, unpas.ac.id – Government planning to expand the Covid-19 Emergency State of Restriction Implementation on Community Activities (Pemberlakukan Pembatasan Kegiatan Masyarakat, PPKM) in Java-Bali up to six weeks tends to worsen the condition in societies. Especially, it has made the decrease of economic growth worse since it was implemented last July 3rd, 2021.
According to Universitas Pasundan Economic Supervisor Acuviarta Kartabi, if the Covid-19 Emergency State is going to be expanded, it will decrease the level of consumption and demand of the community. The condition will also give influence to the field and other business sectors.
“This will certainly give effect to the use of labor and the capability of business sectors related to financial obligations, credit payments and so on. The greater impact of the economic downturn felt by the community depends how long the extension of Emergency State is,” he said on Monday, 19 July 2021.
The biggest consequences of Covid-19 Emergency State, based on information he obtained from association and business, include to stop hiring their employees (Pemutusan Hubungan Kerja, PHK).
“If it really happens, I think it would harm people’s economic growth. The decrease of employees and activities in trading sector does not only give impact to the demand, but also supply,” he continued.
He predicted that if the Emergency State of PPKM is really going to be expanded, there are at least 17 economic sectors that will be badly harmed. These sectors include wholesale and retail trade, transportation and warehousing, industry and manufacturing, construction, and accommodation and food and beverage services, such as hotels and restaurants.
Although there are a lot of hotels switching to opening self-isolation facilitation, it is quite insufficient to restore the cash flow like the way it was (before the implementation of Covid-19 Emergency State of PPKM).
“Best rational effort that needs to be done by the government is to optimize assistance to the community. For example, by providing social safety network or social assistance, especially for families with limited economic capacity. Also to MSMEs entrepreneurs who find it hard to carry out their activities due to restrictions,” he said.
Other than social assistance, government should also start to do digitalization. It is not quite fast and easy to implement, but in certain condition it needs to be done as soon as possible.
“By applying digitalization pattern, there are a lot of things which can probably done. Therefore, although it is restricted for us to go mobile, we can still optimize the economic growth,” he explained.
In addition, the SOP for certain business sector to operate during Emergency State of PPKM needs to be loosened up. For example, a business sector that does not have direct contact with consumers and is able to ensure that its operational activities apply strict health protocols.
Acuviarta also highlights the emergence of government regulation on the policy of 15-day-work a month for laborer as an anticipation of mass layoffs. According to him, this regulation is only expected to be situational, because the correlation is very close to wage adjustments and the government has not provided certain options regarding this matter.
“If the regulations are not accompanied with certain decision from the government related to the number of wage payment, I think it would lead to a more harmful situation for the community. This condition should be overview carefully because it correlates to a lot of things. We could not see or let the 15-day work scheme become part of the real layoff scheme,” he concluded. (Reta)*