The article assesses the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the Indonesian economy and the influence that repercussions from the pandemic have had on the country's long-term development goals and objectives. The article used backcasting approach to link expected development objectives and targets with current state of social and economic conditions. Results demonstrated a gap between long-term and current economic performance, attributable largely to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and society. A drastic decline in aggregate demand due to contraction in household and corporate expenditure, investment, and exports sparked a surge in open unemployment and underemployment. While swift and wide-ranging government response helped to attenuate the impact of the crisis on the economy and vulnerable sections of society, COVID-19 pandemic impact compounded existing fundamental problems facing the Indonesian economy including de-industrialization, wide urban-rural, East-West, inter-regional digital divide; unemployment and underemployment; weak human resource development; low participation in global value chains; and low education effectiveness. Policy recommendations to nudge the economy and society back to its long-term development trajectory include initiatives to ABOUT THE AUTHOR Muyanja Ssenyonga, Jameaba, is an economist holding a PhD in economics from Gadjah Mada University (GMU), Yogyakarta. Research interests include cross-cutting topics including labor relations, Poverty and Inequality, financial stability and financial inclusion. Publications include but not limited to financial inclusion and financial stability, poverty and income inequality, and labor relations, and banking and digitalization. Professional experience includes serving as a visiting lecturer and researcher, Master Program in Public Administration (MAP-GMU), research fellow in Pavia University, Lombardy, Italy (spring 2016); Research fellowship South-South Cooperation, Santiago, Chile (spring 2013). The research on imperatives for the post COVID-19 pandemic Indonesian economy builds on previous research experience on the intersection of digitalization, financial institutions performance, educational effectiveness, and labor relations. Results underscore the fact that to attain sustainable effectiveness and competitiveness, it is imperative for economies to adopt and align their practices, procedures and institutions with emerging trends and drivers of best-practice performance.