JAKARTA: The Finance Ministry has acknowledged that Indonesia’s recent Covid-19 surge will hamper gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the second quarter, a period that was otherwise expected to book record-high growth.

       Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told reporters the ministry was particularly concerned over the surge on Java, an island that contributes nearly 60% of the country’s GDP but that was also the epicentre of a new outbreak.

       “That surge will be the centre of our attention and will affect second quarter growth,” she said during an online press conference.

       Top officials had projected Indonesia to book above 6% GDP growth in the second quarter this year, a figure unseen since 2013, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), as the country recovers from an economic contraction in the same period last year.

       The Finance Minister herself projected the country’s GDP to grow between 7.1% and 8.3% in the second quarter. However, experts warned that a resurgence in Covid-19, particularly due to the new variant, presented a key risk to Indonesia’s economic growth prospects.

       Sri Mulyani did not mention an updated second quarter GDP growth forecast but noted that “as Covid-19 cases increase, maybe the upper end of the projection will be lower.”

       The country has seen surges of Covid-19 cases in several regions in the weeks following increased mobility during the Aidilfitri holidays. Authorities also suspect that transmission was likely exacerbated by the more transmissible Delta variant, which has been detected in Jakarta, Central Java and East Java. — The Jakarta Post/ANNOn Monday, health authorities reported 14,536 new Covid-19 cases, the highest daily rise since the pandemic hit the country last year, as the country passed the two million confirmed cases mark. – The Jakarta Post/ANN