Deputy Minister of Finance (Wamenkeu) Suahasil Nazara explained that the agricultural sector is one of the supportive sectors and continues to grow positively when Indonesia experiences an economic contraction due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. “In a crisis situation, the agricultural sector is the bumper of other sectors. Other sectors could contract, the agricultural sector being the bumper. The agricultural sector is one sector that remains good in the economy, its growth remains positive," said the Deputy Minister of Finance at the 9th Indonesian Economic and Business Faculty Association (AFEBI) Congress, Tuesday (30/11). The Deputy Minister of Finance said that when the entire Indonesian economy in total experienced a contraction due to Covid-19, the agricultural sector continued to grow positively at 1.8 percent in 2020. “This is very resilient. Usually (the agricultural sector grows) positive at around 3 to 4 percent. But when Covid, other sectors were negative, the agricultural sector still grew 1.6 to 1.8 percent. So we can understand that the contribution of the agricultural sector to Gross Domestic Product in 2020 will increase and this will continue to increase," said the Deputy Minister of Finance.
Agriculture is one of the key sectors of the domestic economy, especially to promote national food security and anticipate the global food crisis. Therefore, the Deputy Minister of Finance revealed that the government through the APBN provides various fiscal supports to farmers and fishermen. “The state budget support for farmers and fishermen is issued not only through one type of expenditure. We use various types of spending to support farmers and fishermen and the agricultural sector in general,” said the Deputy Minister of Finance. Support is provided in the form of spending by the Ministry of Institutions, both at the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing. "In total, spending through ministries and institutions in 2021 will not be less than IDR 56 trillion," said the Deputy Minister of Finance.
