President calls for optimism & alertness, 28 countries line up for IMF assistance

This morning I received information from a meeting in Washington DC, 28 countries were already lining up at the IMF headquarters, becoming patients

Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) called for Indonesia to continue to be optimistic and exercise caution after he received news that at least 28 countries were queuing up to ask for help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"This morning I received information from a meeting in Washington DC, 28 countries were already queuing up at the IMF headquarters, becoming patients," President Jokowi said while giving a briefing and opening the 2022 Investor Daily Summit in Jakarta, Tuesday.

President Jokowi conveyed this to reaffirm the importance of being careful and vigilant along with optimism in an effort to maintain the country's economy.

"Once again we must maintain optimism, but more importantly be careful and alert, eling and waspodo ," he said.

President Jokowi reminded again that a situation full of uncertainty looms over the world, which also changes the pattern of anticipating inflation which is no longer easy to calculate, including in its own control.

According to the President, in a situation like the present, any country can quickly and easily be thrown off course if they are not careful and vigilant in monetary and fiscal management.

"Especially after the Russo-Ukrainian War, we know that economic growth in 2023, which was previously estimated at 3 percent, has recently been estimated to fall at 2.2 percent," he said.

President Jokowi emphasized that the slowdown in global economic growth was a high price that the world community had to bear as a result of a war.

"But with the uncertainty that I mentioned earlier, we must be optimistic. We must be optimistic, but be careful and vigilant," said President Jokowi.