VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Finance Ministry stated that the focus of the state budget was still to protect the public from a potential pandemic event and encourage economic recovery.

State expenditure was also streamlined, so that the state budget deficit could be below three percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, Deputy Minister of Finance Suahasil Nazara stated.

"We expect that with spending efficiency, we can conduct fiscal consolidation. However, this must still protect the economy through health spending and continue to encourage economic recovery," Nazara stated at the State Finance Symposium accessed here on Wednesday.

He said as for the economy that started to see some recovery post COVID-19, state revenues had also begun to improve, as was apparent from the realization of state revenues in September 2022 that grew 45.7 percent as compared to the same period in the previous year.

He believed that this increase in revenue would be able to pursue the goal of having a state budget deficit of below three percent.

Concurrently, government spending continued to grow in a healthy manner, reaching 5.9 percent annually in September 2022, which is used to ensure that public health and economic recovery are maintained.

He noted that the government would also maintain economic growth through improvement of coordination between fiscal and monetary policy makers that was embodied in the Financial System Stability Committee.

Coordination is also required in the midst of global economic conditions, in which recession would haunt the world in 2023.

"We reduce prices by reducing liquidity by increasing the benchmark interest rate that must be matched with fiscal policy and the state budget that we normalize towards a deficit below three percent," Nazara concluded. (antaranews)

South Sumatra Governor Herman Deru appealed to people in 17 districts and cities of the province to stop fishing conducted in rivers and lakes through electrocution and the use of poison.

"There are still many reports of community activities of catching fish by electrocuting and using toxins; the methods that can damage the ecosystem must be stopped and the preservation of aquatic biota must be prioritized," he remarked here on Wednesday.

To stop fishing methods that harm the environment requires support from all parties, the governor emphasized.

According to Deru, fishing activities are difficult to monitor by officers of the South Sumatra provincial government and law enforcement officials, whose number of personnel is limited.

"The stop to using fishing gears that are harmful to the environment requires community participation," he stated.

Deru also appealed to the public to immediately report to the nearest security or law enforcement officials if they witness acts of electrofishing and fishing using poison.

He cautioned that electrofishing can disrupt all living creatures in the water.

The governor noted that not only do large fish die due to being electrocuted or poisoned, but small fish and other aquatic biotas can also perish, thereby threatening all aquatic biota if this practice continues unabated.

On account of this danger, enforcement mechanisms against electrofishing will be further bolstered, he remarked.

Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor of Palembang Fitrianti Agustinda also urged residents in the capital of South Sumatra to stop fishing methods that are not environment-friendly.

"It is time to abandon the use of fishing tools that are not environment-friendly because they can damage the ecosystem of Musi River, its tributaries, and the surrounding environment," Agustinda said.

According to Agustinda, using safe fishing gear can prevent the killing of other small fish that are still growing.

The practice of electrocution in fishing is widely practiced by small communities, so a special approach to educate about the negative impacts of electrofishing is deemed necessary, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries emphasized. (antaranews)

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin confirmed that the government had brought in five million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to meet vaccine requirements in areas where stocks had dried up.

"Five million doses of the Pfizer vaccine had arrived two days ago. We are ready to distribute it," Sadikin noted at the 2022 National Nutrition Movement in Jakarta, Wednesday.

According to the minister, the government received a grant of five million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) scheme.

The COVID-19 vaccine supply would then be distributed to areas where the vaccine supply had run out, he added.

Sadikin remarked that the COVID-19 vaccine shortage occurred since the government had withheld vaccine imports to prioritize the use of domestically produced vaccines.

"We already have vaccines that are produced domestically, so we hold on to imports first, to utilize the domestic vaccine. However, it turns out that domestic vaccine production is hampered. The delay is due to the clinical trials for boosters that have not been approved by the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM)," he remarked.

He expressed optimism that domestically produced vaccines would immediately receive a permit for use from the BPOM and would be distributed to regions in November 2022.

"The domestic vaccines called IndoVac and Inavac are still awaiting permission from BPOM. We hope that in November, the agency would issue the permit," he said.

Based on the Health Ministry's vaccination dashboard on Wednesday, the COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Indonesia has reached 205,111,340 people, or 87.41 percent, for the first dose; 171,828,287 people, or 73.22 percent, for the second dose; 64,877,879 people, or 27.65 percent, for the third dose or booster; and 662,375 people, or 45.10 percent, for the second booster dose. (antaranews)

Head of the Indonesian National Library, Mohamad Syarif Bando - 

The 28th International Conference of Heads of National Libraries in Asia and Oceania was officially opened in Jakarta, Tuesday (25/10/22). Met after the Gala dinner at the National Library building, the Head of the Indonesian National Library, Mohamad Syarif Bando explained that Indonesia was one of the pioneers in creating digital book applications.

"In our discussion earlier, we discussed the paradigm and momentum of the old library to the new library paradigm, where the library reaches the public with the application of increasingly sophisticated information technology. So now the era is no longer people who visit libraries but libraries that visit people with technological facilities such as in Indonesia to be one of the pioneers in creating an application called I-pusnas where all books purchased from 800 legal publishers can be read in full text via mobile phones", Syarif Bando said. 

Syarif Bando added that with the theme Library Service Impacts on Community: Sustainability, Inclusion, and Innovation, libraries can be fully involved in supporting Sustainable Development or SDG's to end poverty, improve welfare, and protect the planet, through the achievement of 17 goals//VOI