VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The government is readying a stimulus package to expedite the completion of the Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD) project in order to accord priority to it for maintaining national oil and gas production.

"The government supports the development of new fields to exploit the existing oil and gas sources," Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif noted in a statement in Jakarta, Wednesday.

According to the Upstream Oil and Gas Special Regulatory Task Force (SKK Migas) report, the projected domestic demand for fuel oil currently reaches 1.4 million barrels per day, with a refinery production capacity of some 800 thousand barrels, so the shortage of supply must be covered from imported products.

In a bid to meet the domestic oil requirements, the government will maximize all upstream oil and gas potential in order to produce fuel to meet the needs of the community and industry.

"The government continues to encourage efforts to increase reserves and oil and gas production, as well as optimize the use of natural gas for domestic needs, which currently stands at 63.9 percent," Arifin stated.

The government has provided nine stimulus packages to improve the upstream oil and gas investment climate battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The stimuli encompassed postponing the provision for post-operation costs, tax holiday for income tax, eliminating the cost of utilizing the Badak liquefied natural gas refinery, postponing or eliminating the value-added tax for liquefied natural gas, and eliminating the cost of renting state-owned upstream oil and gas.

In addition, a stimulus is being offered for delaying or reducing up to 100-percent indirect taxes, gas allowed to be sold at discounted prices for all the above take or pay and Daily Contract Quantity schemes, fiscal policy flexibility, and tax discussions for businesses supporting upstream oil and gas activities.

Head of SKK Migas Dwi Soetjipto noted that of the nine stimuli, six had already received approval from the government.

Soetjipto explained that one form of concession in upstream oil and gas investment was that several contractors of the Oil and Gas Cooperation Contract (KKKS) can monetize the oil and gas potential that is managed by them.

"At this time, a one-door service policy has been developed. Thus, now, there are so many aspects that are being considered to facilitate investment," Soetjipto remarked. (Antaranews)

Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said the establishment of the Micro Waqf Bank aims to provide opportunities for low-income people to conduct business, since they often have limited capital or access to banking.

The Micro Waqf Bank was established to provide access to capital for low-income people who do not have access to established financial institutions, as well as to play a role in empowering communities located near Islamic boarding schools by providing assistance," said the vice president during the National Conference on Vocational and Entrepreneurship at Cipasung Islamic Boarding School, here on Tuesday.

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said the opportunity to start businesses among low-income people, and especially the opportunity to obtain venture capital, had been a concern of the government.

Besides business capital, people who have just begun operating a business also need assistance in running their business and access to marketing for their products.

"Therefore, it has been the role of OJK (Financial Services Authority) since 2017 to continue to encourage the development of Micro Waqf Banks in Islamic boarding schools," he added.

So far, numerous Islamic boarding schools spread across various regions have seen the opening of 60 Micro Waqf Banks.

The vice president expected the number of Micro Waqf Banks to continue to increase, to assist even more new entrepreneurs in the community.

"With the distribution of funds of up to IDR67 billion to 44,900 customers and 4,780 Community Business Groups around Indonesian Islamic boarding schools, (Micro Waqf Bank) is expected to increase the number of new entrepreneurs who will encourage economic activity at the lower level," he noted.

The government continues to support the acceleration of the development of Micro Waqf Banks. Therefore, the vice president asked those working in the relevant ministries and institutions to draw up a plan to optimize the use of the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) or the Government's Revolving Fund.

The optimization program includes participation by the Revolving Fund Management Agency for Cooperatives, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (LPDB UMKM); Ultra Micro Financing; and the Government Investment Center Public Service Agency (BLU-PIP).

"With these optimization efforts, we hope the Micro Waqf Bank can be formed soon and will be stronger in the future," said the vice president. (Antaranews)

Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has stated that the country's high unemployment rate and low competitive edge are the result of the people's unpreparedness to adapt to changes in the job market and industry.

"The unemployment rate is high and the competitive edge is low, due in part to the lack of preparedness to adapt to changes, with the disruption following them," he said at a national get-together on vocation and entrepreneurship at Cipasung Islamic boarding school in Singaparna, Tasikmalaya, West Java, on Tuesday.

Indonesia’s unemployment rate continues to increase due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the number of unemployed people reached 19.1 million.

In the meantime, the working age population continues to increase and the number of people who have received job training is very small, he said.

For this reason, the vice president added, speed, accuracy and efficiency are needed to lay an important foundation for the creation of the excellent human resources that are needed to compete with other countries in the current era of digital technology.

The concrete challenges to the labor force is how to prepare excellent human resources, capable of facing the issues arising from digital technology, including big data, artificial intelligent and the internet of things, he said.
To create a reliable labor force, regional governments, private parties, academics, social organizations and religious institutions must take an active role, along with the central government, he said.

"The government cannot work alone. It needs the participation of regional governments, state-owned companies, private parties, institutes of higher learning, social organizations, and religious institutes, such as Islamic boarding schools, all over the country," he said. (Antaranews)

The Indonesian government administered the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 11,356,025 people, as of Tuesday, or an increase of 158,956 from the previous day, according to the COVID-19 Handling Task Force.

Meanwhile, the first dose was given to 484,564 people in a single day, thereby bringing the total to 18,260,482 individuals so far.

The Indonesian government has, until now, administered the COVID-19 vaccine mostly procured from China's Sinovac in addition to the AstraZeneca vaccine obtained from the COVAX Facility.

The figure constitutes 28.14 percent of the total 40,349,049 people targeted by the government to receive vaccines in stages I and II prioritizing health workers, the elderly, and public officials.

The government has set a target to vaccinate a total of 181.5 million Indonesians, or 70 percent of its total populace, to build herd immunity against the novel coronavirus disease.

Some 1,393,951 healthcare workers have completed the COVID-19 vaccination process out of the total targeted 1,468,764 healthcare workers.

A total of 2,347,490 elderly people received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine out of the targeted 21,553,118 senior citizens.

A total of 7,613,387 public officials received two jabs of the COVID-19 vaccine out of the 17,327,167 people targeted by the government.

Indonesia recorded the addition of 6,294 fresh COVID-19 cases within the last 24 hours, while 5,805 COVID-19 patients made a recovery and 189 people succumbed to the virus. (Antaranews)