Two of the world's economic giants are experiencing an economic slowdown, namely the United States (US) and China. If seen in more detail, the situation in China will be more dangerous for the national economy, which President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) also realizes. "Therefore, in 2023, we really have to be vigilant. I agree, we have to be optimistic, but we have to be careful and alert. The first is that last year's Indonesian exports jumped far, but be careful that next year it could drop," Jokowi said during a speech at Bank Indonesia (BI) Annual Meeting Wednesday (30/11/2022).

This refers to the worsening situation in China. The latest survey from Reuters involving 40 economists shows that China's economy is expected to grow 3.2% in 2022, far below the government's target of 5.5%.

If you don't take into account 2020, when the world was hit by a pandemic caused by the corona virus (Covid-19), the growth in gross domestic product (GDP) will be the lowest since 1976.

China's chief economist at Nomura, Ting Lu, even lowered China's economic growth projection even further.

Nomura slashed China's 2022 GDP forecast to just 2.8%. For next year, GDP is expected to grow 4%, trimmed from the previous projection of 4.3%.

There is indeed an increase in GDP next year, but it's still low, especially if you look at this year's low base. Then if you look at China's average GDP since 1989 of 9.05%, reports Trading Economics

This means that this is the "darkest" economic period for Xi Jinping, who has been President of China since 2013.

Senior Economist Chatib Basri, said that Indonesia needs to be worried about China because it is Indonesia's biggest export market. China is Indonesia's biggest export market, its value from January to October was US$ 51.5 billion and contributed 22.3 percent of total exports.

"Actually, I am more worried about the (impact) of China's economy, compared to the United States' economy on us because if China gets hit it will really hit our (Indonesian) exports," Chatib said in mid-October.

According to him, in the long term China's economy will experience a new normal or will not grow high anymore. "Maybe the long term growth is around 4%, far away, (but) that must be anticipated. I'm not talking about this year, but the long term growth can go in that direction," he said.

Thus, there is a risk that demand for commodities from China in the long run will no longer be as high as it is today. The impact of the economic slowdown has been felt domestically, particularly in export-oriented industries.

The textile and textile products (TPT) industry is the first to suffer. The economic slowdown of export destination countries has triggered a reduction and restriction of orders to TPT factories in the country. As a result, there was a decrease in production capacity. Until it causes employee efficiency, by laying off even layoffs.

"Employee layoffs are still happening," Secretary General of the Indonesian Filament Fiber and Yarn Association (APSyFI) Redma Gita Wirawasta told CNBC Indonesia.

"Employee reductions have exceeded 100,000. Some have been laid off, reduced working hours, termination of contracts, and even layoffs," he added.

This condition, he said, occurred in the textile industry from upstream to downstream. "(Location) West Java and Central Java," said Redma.

This symptom of laying off employees has been going on since last month. Redma said the TPT factory's production capacity continued to fall even by 50% and was feared to continue until 2023.