Jakarta (VNA) - Ride-hailing firm Grab Indonesia contributed 77.4trillion rupiah (5.45 billion USD) to the Indonesian economy last year, largelythanks to its food delivery service, while providing gig work for the country’sinformal workers, according to a research conducted by the Centre for Strategicand International Studies (CSIS) and Tenggara Strategics.

The research revealed that the biggest source of Grab’s contributions to theeconomy came from its food delivery service GrabFood, which contributed 37.3trillion rupiah of the total 77.4 trillion rupiah. The overall 2019 figuremarks a 58.3 percent increase from the firm’s 48.9 trillion rupiah in 2018.

Thedata was calculated based on the incomes of more than 5,000 surveyed Grabpartners and merchants before and after joining Grab, across its four services– motorcycle taxi service GrabBike, ride-hailing service GrabCar, GrabFood andmerchant GrabKios.

“As Indonesia starts to move past COVID-19, we believe that platforms like Graband the gig economy can support the country on its road to recovery,” theJakarta Post newspaper quoted Riyadi Suparno, executive director of TenggaraStrategics, as saying.

Withthe economic downturn as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts have warnedthat the country’s 70.49 million informal workers, the majority of theIndonesian workforce, are considered the most vulnerable. Motorcycle taxidrivers association Two-Wheeled Action Movement (Garda) reported a 70 percentdecrease in drivers’ daily earnings during the pandemic.

However,the research notes that Grab has provided earning opportunities for thosedealing with unemployment, like in 2019, when 31 percent of GrabBike and 26 percentof GrabCar partners had no income prior to joining Grab.

Thecompany’s digital platform would also aid the merchant-partners’ transition toa post-pandemic economy, Riyadi stated.

Beingdigital-ready will be more important than ever in the new normal. Grab can helpbusinesses adapt by making the shift online through services like GrabFood andGrabKios, Riyadi added.

Earlierthis month, Grab Indonesia introduced a new app called GrabMerchant, aimed as aone-stop service platform that allows micro, small and medium enterprises(MSMEs), including those in food and beverage, to digitally manage theiroperational hours, orders, employees, as well as menus and promotions.

Meanwhile,the head of the CSIS department of economics, Yose Rizal Damuri, noted thatGrab, as a digital platform, played a supporting role during the large-scalesocial restrictions (PSBB).

TenggaraStrategics researcher Stella Kusumawardhani said that, based on the 2019findings, GrabFood also helped small businesses expand at minimal cost.

In2019, the research found that GrabFood merchant-partners saw their monthlysales increase by 35 percent to 49.6 million rupiah per month from the averageof 36.7 million rupiah per month in 2018./.