VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

APEC ministers and high-level representatives from 21 member economies issued a statement that aims to boost efforts to empower women's participation in the economy.

The statement outcomes of the 2022 APEC Women and the Economy Forum reflects concerns over the widening gap and rising inequality for women and underlines the urgent need to step up efforts to empower them, promote their meaningful participation in the economy, and improve their livelihoods, according to a release issued by the APEC Women and the Economy Forum  on Thursday.

The 2022 APEC Women and the Economy Forum was held in Bangkok, Thailand, and chaired by Thailand’s Minister of Social Development and Human Security Chuti Krairiksh.

The statement also reiterates commitments to advance gender equality, women’s empowerment, and a sustainable and inclusive recovery and call for all APEC members to continue to work towards the goal of women's empowerment in the economy.

The statement details the strong support of APEC members to advance meaningful actions with consensus in the following areas.

The first area of focus is accelerating the implementation of the La Serena Roadmap for Women and Inclusive Growth in the 2019-2030 period.

The second aspect to be prioritized is recognizing that women and girls can develop meaningful, effective, and relevant solutions to advance the bio-circular-green economy model.

The third area to be given importance is bridging the gender digital divide by ensuring equitable access to the internet and in digital skills training.

The fourth target is removing barriers that prevent women and girls of diverse backgrounds from being fully empowered and from benefitting from recovery opportunities.

The fifth focus is adopting policies to recognize, reduce, and equitably redistribute the unpaid care and domestic work conducted by women and girls.

Lastly, the target is collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data, including that pertaining to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) training and careers, to make informed decisions, investments, and actions. (Antaranews)

The Ministry of Finance is encouraging village governments to contribute more to handling extreme poverty through the issuance of Finance Minister's Regulation (PMK) Number 128 of 2022 on Management of Village Funds.

Head of the Village Funds Sub-directorate of the ministry Jamiat Aries Calfat stated that earlier, it was regulated in PMK Number 190 of 2021 that beneficiaries of village cash assistance (BLT) were not beneficiaries of aid from the central or regional government.

"In the PMK Number 128 of 2022, this provision has been changed, so that beneficiary families of village BLT can also receive social assistance from regional governments or (assistance) sourced from APBD (regional budget)," he stated at the Getting to the Core of the PMK 128/2022 webinar followed here on Thursday.

Statistics Indonesia (BPS) stated that the number of poor people in March 2022 stood at 26.16 million comprising 11.82 million people in urban areas and 14.34 million people in rural areas.

According to Calfat, through the issuance of the ministerial regulation, the Ministry of Finance has encouraged village governments to provide social assistance to people in extreme poverty to support them in tackling the situation.

The regulation supports President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi's) directive after the announcement of the increase in fuel price, in which regional governments are urged to allot two percent of the General Allocation Fund (DAU) to be used as social assistance for poor people and those vulnerable to poverty.

Through Presidential Regulation Number 104 of 2021, President Jokowi stated that at least 40 percent of the village funds should be allocated for village BLT, 20 percent for food and animal security, and eight percent for COVID-19 handling.

In the latest regulation, the government regulates that the remaining village BLT is no longer stored in the state treasury account but is returned to the villages to be used as a poverty alleviation budget, for instance, through the stunting handling program.

"After being distributed to the concerned villages, the funds must be used or prioritized for handling extreme poverty," Calfat remarked. (Antaranews)

The G20 Orchestra, a newly founded orchestra by Indonesia, which is chairing this year's G20 Presidency, will promote collaboration and gender equality in the world of art, especially classical music.

"This orchestra must not be ordinary, it must make a breakthrough and something new. For example, gender equality, where the world of classical music is still considered ‘very male,’ so we involve female musicians in it," founder and artistic director of the G20 Orchestra Ananda Sukarlan said at an online meeting on Wednesday.

According to the Indonesian composer and pianist, the orchestra's gender-equality target of achieving a balanced involvement of women and men in the event has been nearly accomplished with 26 female musicians and 34 male musicians joining it.

He informed that the orchestra--whose world premiere at Borobudur Temple will feature some of the world's best musicians--will also involve many young talents.

"Since we want to innovate, we need young people to be involved in conducting this event," Sukarlan said.

He further said that the G20 Orchestra will also raise the issue of disability and will abide by the Indonesian G20 Presidency slogan “Recover Together, Recover Stronger.”

Sukarlan expressed the hope that the G20 Orchestra will become Indonesia's legacy in the history of classical music in the international arena.

"Given that we involve musicians from various backgrounds and different cultures, also speak different languages. But in the end, music is a universal language, so music can also unite differences," he remarked.

He argued that music is not only about entertainment, but can also be a tool of diplomacy and communication to enhance people-to-people contact among countries.

In fact, the Orchestra has musicians from 18 G20 countries.

The G20 Orchestra -- initiated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology to promote classical Indonesian music--will be held at Borobudur Temple in Magelang, Central Java, on September 12, 2022. (Antaranews)

The position of Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves at the end of August 2022 remained high at US$132.2 billion, Bank Indonesia (BI) has said.

Indonesia’s position was relatively stable compared to the end of July, when its foreign exchange reserves also stood at US$132.2 billion, it added.

In an official statement released in Jakarta on Wednesday, Executive Director and the Head of BI’s Communications Department, Erwin Haryono, said the development of the foreign exchange reserve position was influenced, among others, by tax and service receipts, as well as oil and gas foreign exchange receipts amid the need for stabilization of the rupiah exchange rate in line with the high uncertainty in global financial markets.

The foreign exchange reserve position last month was equivalent to financing 6.1 months of imports or 6.0 months of imports and servicing the government’s external debt, and was above the international adequacy standard of around three months of imports.

According to the BI, the foreign exchange reserves in August were able to support external sector resilience and maintain macroeconomic and financial system stability.

Going forward, Bank Indonesia views foreign exchange reserves as adequate, supported by the maintenance of economic stability and prospects, in line with various policy responses for maintaining macroeconomic and financial system stability to support national economic recovery.

Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, said earlier that tax revenues until July 2022 reached Rp1,028.5 trillion, up 58.8 percent from Rp647.7 trillion recorded in the same period of last year.

The realization of tax revenues of Rp1,028.5 trillion, or 69.3 percent of the target of Rp1,485 trillion, included non-oil and gas income tax (PPh) of Rp595 trillion or 79.4 percent of the target as well as value-added tax (VAT; PPN in Indonesian) and luxury tax (PPnBM) of Rp376.6 trillion or 59.1 percent of the target.

It further included land and building tax (PBB) and other taxes of Rp6.6 trillion or 20.5 percent of the target, and oil as well as oil and gas income tax (PPh) of Rp49.2 trillion or 76.1 percent of the target.

The performance of the tax revenue was influenced by the trend of increasing commodity prices, expansionary economic growth, a low base in 2021 due to the provision of fiscal incentives, and the impact of the implementation of the voluntary disclosure program (PPS). (antaranews)