Explained: Why Indonesia is getting a five-day weekend

Ain’t no weekend like a long weekend. Indonesia has declared a five-day weekend on the occasion of the Eid al-Adha festival to encourage people to spend more money. The Joko Widodo-led administration claimed that by extending leave, it hoped to encourage travel and tourism, which would help the economy grow. Let’s take a closer look. Also read: Why is Indonesia cracking down on second-hand clothes? A five-day weekend Next week’s Wednesday and Friday have been designated as holidays by President Joko Widodo, and Indonesians will also have Thursday off to celebrate the Eid al-Adha festival, according to Dailymail. This indicates that the general population will benefit from a five-day weekend the following week. All federal personnel are eligible for the additional vacation days, and private businesses will likely follow suit, reported Bloomberg. The nation’s stock exchange will also be closed throughout the vacation days. “The holiday break should encourage the economy, especially in the regions and local tourism areas, to be better. Because we saw that it could be extended, that was what we decided,” Widodo said on Wednesday. Also read: Explained: Why Indonesia's Bali is banning tourists from renting motorbikes Not the first time The Indonesian president has a history of using novel strategies to stimulate the country’s economic growth by enticing citizens to shop online. Widodo asked the country’s citizens to spend more on shopping, concerts, and sporting activities in February. He had already instructed the local administration to approve permits for sporting and musical events. This was before the government removed the Covid-19 expenditure limitations in order to enhance spending. Also read: Bali mulls levying entry tax on tourists Indonesia’s economy continues to struggle Problems related to high prices and a sluggish job market are still present in Indonesia. It was found in May that Indonesia’s annual economic growth probably fell to its lowest level in more than a year during the months of January to March. Additionally, the economy contracted on a quarterly basis as increased interest rates constrained domestic demand and weaker commodity prices hurt experts. Dailymail quoted Krystal Tan, an economist at ANZ as saying, “growth moderates as the commodity boom fades, and support for Indonesia’s external and fiscal positions also diminishes.” He added Defying the slowdown in global growth will be difficult for Indonesia, but resilient domestic demand will help offer some cushion." Approximately 690 trillion rupiahs (£39.5 billion) is said to be in savings accounts as a result of Indonesians “hitting the breaks” on expenditure in 2022 as a result of the pandemic, according to The Sun. The move seemed similar to the United Kingdom, whose statistics showed that drunken Britons contributed to a 0.2 per cent growth in the country’s economy. In March, the UK economy had a 0.3 per cent decline. Additionally, the economy expanded marginally by 0.1 per cent in the three months leading up to April. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.