VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin reminded that the poverty alleviation program budget should not be spent on comparative studies or meetings.

"The Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (Menpan RB), Abdullah Azwar Anas, said that the budget was used for travel expenses and comparative studies. It cut a big portion of the utilization of the poverty alleviation budget. I think it made sense, and we must use the budget right on target," he stated at the Yogyakarta Presidential Palace, Saturday.

Earlier, Minister Anas noted that the poverty alleviation budget, which reached Rp500 trillion, was spent on meetings and comparative studies at hotels.

"There are two ways to tackle poverty, one is social protection to help the beneficiaries to survive. The second is empowerment to help them no longer be poor. (The budget for) these two things is indeed big and spread out in various ministries and institutions," the vice president remarked.

However, the poverty alleviation budget also includes program coordination and budget convergence.

"This budget should not be managed by each individual but must be converged to keep it effective," he emphasized.

Moreover, the government is targeting to reduce the extreme poverty rate to zero percent by 2024.

"Because the budget is big enough, the utilization must be more effective," Amin emphasized.

The vice president, who concurrently serves as chair of the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K), highlighted that the government is taking effective measures through various ways to alleviate extreme poverty.

"We have 12 priority provinces for poverty alleviation. By 2024, we hope to reach zero-percent extreme poverty," he noted.

Data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) showed that the percentage of poor in Indonesia in September 2022 was 9.57 percent, an increase of 0.03 percentage points as compared to March 2022 and a decrease of 0.14 percentage points from September 2021.

The number of poor people in September 2022 reached 26.36 million, an increase of 0.20 million as compared to March 2022 and a decrease of 0.14 million in comparison with that recorded in September 2021.

In September 2022, the poverty line was recorded at Rp535,547.00 per capita per month. With calculations in September 2022, on average, poor households in Indonesia have 4.34 members, so the poverty line per poor household, on average, is Rp2,324,274.00 per poor household per month.

The government is eyeing to reach the goal of zero extreme poverty in the country by 2024. During the 2023-2024 period, the government is focusing on poverty alleviation in 514 priority districts and cities, with the extreme poverty rate at 2.3 to three percent. (Antaranews)

Jakarta (voinews.id): Personnel of the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) completed their small boat operation (SBO) training with the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Mobile Training Team.

The closing ceremony for the training session, presided over by the agency's Director of Training, Commodore Suwito, took place in North Jakarta, Friday (February 3), Bakamla's Public Relations officer Captain Yuhanes Antara noted.

According to the statement received on Saturday, he said that the SBO training was organized in cooperation between the Bakamla and the USCG, with assistance from the Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) of the US Embassy in Jakarta.

The training was held as the implementation of a work plan in accordance with a memorandum of understanding signed between Indonesia and the United States on April 27, 2018, he remarked.

"The work plan includes cooperation on training in USCG academy, commissioned officer school, courses on international maritime officers, and other maritime security technical training," Antara stated.

The cooperation also took the form of organizational partnership that includes training and courses on maritime security in Indonesia and the United States, exchange of expert officers, seminars, and experience, as well as consultation and open dialogue on maritime security, he stated.

Meanwhile, the Bakamla official noted that the SBO training, provided at the two levels of basic and advanced, aims to enhance the capability of Bakamla personnel in operating small boats according to its technical procedure.

"Surely, it means adherence to safe and effective procedures to support Bakamla's operational readiness. Moreover, the training is also a medium to help officers assigned to patrol boats familiarized with performing small boats' operational procedure," Antara expounded.

He remarked that some skills gained by officers during the training are boat handling, safe boat mooring and release, person overboard rescue, and handling of likely emergency scenarios in small boats. (Antaranews)

Jakarta (voinews.id): Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has asked the Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Working Group to continue disseminating information on health issues in Indonesia even though COVID-19 cases are on the decline.

"I want to thank the RCCE Working Group fellows who have helped Indonesia since (the first case of) COVID-19 was found in March 2020. Thank God, thanks to all of our cooperation, we can handle the pandemic well," he remarked in a press release issued on Friday.

The health problems faced by Indonesia cannot be handled by just one ministry or agency, but need the involvement of all parties, the minister added.

Thus, he said he expected the RCCE Working Group to keep helping the government even though COVID-19 has been brought under control since there are many other health problems, which must also be addressed, such as diabetes that can trigger heart and kidney diseases.

"In most cases, it also causes kidney injury. Thus, people need to have dialysis for hours at the hospital every week," Sadikin informed.

He asked the RCCE Working Group to take part in promoting a healthy lifestyle for preventing diabetes among the public in collaboration with the Directorate General of Public Health of the Health Ministry.

The RCCE Working Group was established at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia to ensure that the public gets the right information amid rampant circulation of false information regarding the pandemic.

The working group also plays a role in coordinating COVID-19 response efforts carried out by various institutions at the national and local levels.

The RCCE Working Group also advocates for fair and inclusive COVID-19 handling policies as well as provides inputs on communication strategies to disseminate the latest pandemic situation to the community.

The RCCE Working Group consists of various national and local government institutions, civil organizations, media, private sector, youth organizations, religious organizations, academics, as well as practitioners. (Antaranews)

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday the International Monetary Fund was giving his country a "tough time" over unlocking stalled funding from a $6.5 billion bailout at a time of "unimaginable" economic crisis.

Hours after his remark, the Pakistani rupee hit a record low against the U.S. dollar in a steep slide since last week.

"Our economic situation is unimaginable," the premier said, adding the IMF visiting mission was giving Pakistan a "tough time."

"The conditions we have to fulfil are beyond imagination," he said, but admitted that the country has no option but to accept them.

"You all know we are running short of resources," Sharif said, adding the country was "facing an economic crisis".

He made the comments in a meeting of civil and military leaders in the northwestern city of Peshawar he chaired to prepare a response to Monday's mosque bombing that killed more than 100 people.

He was speaking in the context of funds the country might need for any military or counter-terrorism response to the resurgent Islamist militancy.

IMF's Pakistan representative did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

FREE FALL

The IMF mission is visiting Pakistan to discuss fiscal consolidation measures the institution needs from Pakistan to clear a 9th review of its Extended Fund Facility, aimed at helping countries facing balance-of-payments crises.

Pakistan's central bank reserves at present stand at $3.09 billion, the lowest since 1998 and not enough to cover the cost of three weeks of imports.

The IMF's demands aimed at controlling the country's budget deficit have led Pakistan to leave its currency to market based exchange rates and raise fuel prices.

The Pakistani rupee fell by 1.9% to a record low of 276.58 per dollar in the inter-bank market on Friday, according to the central bank.

The local currency has dropped 16.5% since the artificial cap was removed last week to allow its value to be decided by a market-based exchange rate.

The rupee also shed 2.65% against the U.S. dollar on the open market, according to the association of exchange companies.

An IMF delegation is in Pakistan to restart talks stalled since November for $2.5 billion funds yet to be disbursed.

Despite the economic situation, Sharif said his country will do whatever possible to fight militancy. "We will use all resources in our capacity to fight this menace," he said. (reuters)