The performance of the non-oil and gas manufacturing sector increased. Indonesia's manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) in October was at 57.2, an increase compared to September which was at 52.2. The Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang said, the soaring PMI of Indonesian manufacturing in the tenth month was the highest record in the history of Indonesian manufacturing. The PMI position above 50 indicates that the manufacturing sector is undergoing an expansion phase. “We believe that the expansive manufacturing sector can be maintained, even improved, because industrial companies have returned to boost productivity. This is also strengthened by the increasingly conducive public health condition," said Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita in a statement received in Jakarta, Monday (1/11/2021). The Minister of Industry said that the brilliant performance of the manufacturing industry sector was the result of a synergy between the government and all stakeholders related to economic recovery efforts. "This means that the policies taken in industrial development during this pandemic are on the right track, for example the provision of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives that can increase demand and restore utilization," he explained. Furthermore, the soaring PMI is a form of high optimism from manufacturing industry players in assessing Indonesia's economic prospects in the future.
"The industry's confidence and adaptability during the pandemic can be seen from the revival of Indonesia's manufacturing PMI to an expansive level since November 2020 and continues to strengthen until October 2021," he added. Meanwhile, Head of BKF Febrio Kacaribu said the Manufacturing PMI was consistent towards the direction of economic recovery which continued to strengthen at 57.2 after previously being at 52.2 in September and at 43.7 in August. “This figure illustrates business conditions that continue to improve in all of Indonesia's manufacturing sectors. The decline in Covid-19 cases, which resulted in the easing of activity restrictions, is alleged to have led to an increase in manufacturing sector activity in October which had a positive impact on the economy and prosperous society," said Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency, Ministry of Finance, Febrio Kacaribu in Jakarta. As of October 31, 2021, the average daily case has returned to triple digits at 523 daily cases with a total of 12,318 active cases. The average daily vaccination rate is also very encouraging, reaching 2 million injections per day. Currently, there are 73,806,588 people who have received complete vaccination, equivalent to 35.44% of the total target of 208,265,720 people to get group immunity.
The improvement of the situation in handling the pandemic is the result of the hard work of all parties in handling the pandemic. "Output and new demand hit a record in October as the Covid-19 situation improved," he said. However, new export demand is still contracting due to the disruption of the pandemic and shipping barriers that continue to affect export demand. Strong demand led manufacturers to expand operating capacity by increasing their workforce for the first time in four months. However, the accumulation of job accumulation still slightly increased because the increase in labor has not been able to cover the high increase in demand. Both quantity and stock purchases recorded record increases. Meanwhile, the stock of finished goods decreased because high demand could not be followed by an increase in inputs. Lack of supply has led to input inflation in the last eight years, with many companies citing rising raw material costs. The increase in input inflation caused the company to pass on some of the cost burden to clients so that output costs were also recorded to increase, although slower than September. In general, the overall business sentiment has improved, driven by hopes for the continued recovery in the Covid-19 situation. "For this reason, the Government must continue to maintain its hard work related to handling Covid-19 and vaccination so that cases continue to be under control, especially with the Christmas holiday ahead. Community cooperation to continue to implement health protocols must also be encouraged to further support the recovery of the manufacturing sector," he concluded
