Indonesia falls into first economic recession in over 20 years

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Indonesia fell into a recession for the first time since the late 1990s after its economy contracted by 3.49% year on year in the third quarter due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, official data showed on Thursday.

The third-quarter slowdown follows the 5.32% year on year contraction in the second quarter of this year, data from the Statistics Indonesia showed.

On a quarterly, non-seasonally adjusted basis, the country’s GDP grew by 5.05% in the June-September period.

The last time Indonesia – southeast Asia’s largest economy and a major importer of chemicals – fell into recession was during the 1998 Asian Financial crisis.

Indonesia has the highest coronavirus infection rate in the region, with  418,375 cases and 14,146 deaths as of 3 November, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data.

A recession is typically defined as two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction.