ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the economies of all 34 provinces in Indonesia, growth has slowed in the second quarter of 2020, followed by an increase in unemployment, poverty, and inequality. The impacts of the pandemic differ across industries, the information and communications gains, the agriculture is relatively unaffected, but the manufacturing and service industry are severely hit, thus provinces that rely heavily on the service industry experienced the lowest economic growth as well as sharp increase in unemployment, i.e. Yogyakarta and Bali. In response, the local governments have issued local regulations in order to provide supports for health sector, social safety nets, and business incentives. Despite all the various supports from the local governments in the sectors to cope with impact of the pandemic, the responses is deemed to be unsatisfactory. While the social safety assistance is indispensable in the time of the pandemic, the average local budget disbursement rate in 2020 was only 80% and of the total budget, the disbursement rate of social assistance, has decreased in 2020 from the previous figures in most provinces. Given the provinces’ geographical diversity, widespread impact of the pandemic, and limited government support, community initiatives might be the best complement for the government policies.