VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) interacts with recipients of productive presidential aid for micro-enterprises in Yogyakarta on August 28, 2020. (ANTARA/HO-BNI/sh)

The Finance Ministry is focusing on three strategies to keep Indonesia from plunging into a recession.

The three strategies are accelerating the National Economic Recovery (PEN) Program, and strengthening government consumption as well as public consumption, head of the Financial Policy Center of the ministry’s Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF), Adi Budiarso, said in a meeting with Commission VI of the House of Representatives, which oversees industry and investment, in Jakarta on Monday.

"Optimizing state expenditure has become important to stimulate the economy," Budiarso remarked.

Efforts are being made to expedite the implementation of the PEN program by improving budget absorption, especially for the program, which has been included in the budget execution list (DIPA), he elaborated.

As of August 26, 2020, budget absorption for the national economic recovery program has reached Rp192.53 trillion, or 27.7 percent of the allocated budget of Rp695.2 trillion.

To increase state consumption and thereby encourage economic growth, the government has accelerated the disbursement of the 13th-month salary to civil servants, Budiarso said.

Good expenditure, he said, is targeted to support the implementation of the new work-from-home (WFH) system and the digitalization of bureaucracy.

Capital expenditure would be reallocated to support the development of infrastructure for public service digitalization and the relaxation of the policy on good and services procurement.

To improve public consumption, he said, the government has accelerated expenditure on social aid, among other steps, by increasing the amount of aid, its frequency, and then extend the period of disbursement.

Currently, the government has disbursed Rp2.4 million per person in productive aid to 12 million micro, small, and medium enterprise owners.

The government has also provided aid to formal workers earning a salary of less than Rp5 million per month, along with a microloan (KUR) rate subsidy. (ANTARA)

An illustration of the online 2020 Population Census of Indonesia, which covered 19 percent of the country's total population. 

According to the records of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), 54.1 million Indonesians registered for the population census, which was conducted online from 15 February 2020 to 29 May 2020.

"This number is very large because it is equivalent to almost twice as much as Australia's population. It is a very encouraging achievement, bearing in mind that this is the first population census conducted online in Indonesia,” said the head of BPS, Suhariyanto, as the September 2020 Population Census kicked off online in Jakarta on Monday.

Suhariyanto also lauded all parties and communities who contributed to the success of the online population census.

The census, however, is not yet complete because the 51.4 million Indonesians who took part in the online census account for 19 percent of the country's total population. Around 81 percent of Indonesians remain to be covered by the census.

Thus, starting September 1, 2020, population census officers will go to the field to do a census count to record population data that is yet to be recorded.

Suhariyanto explained that population data is important for planning in various sectors ranging from food, housing, education, health to transportation.

"There can be no precise policy without accurate data. To obtain complete population data, BPS together with 54 other countries will conduct a population census in 2020, " he added.

The first objective of conducting a population census is to provide de facto and de jure data on the number, composition, distribution, and characteristics of the Indonesian population.

The second objective is to provide demographic parameters as well as other population characteristics for population projection purposes.

“Thus, the data from the 2020 population census is not only important for current planning, but also for anticipating what will happen to Indonesia in the future," Suhariyanto noted.

The population census officers, who will go door-to-door to collect data on the country's citizens, will implement strict health protocols such as wearing face masks, maintaining physical distancing, and washing hands, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (ANTARA)

Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin affirmed that artificial intelligence (AI) is a solution for Indonesia to emerge as a major player in the Industrial Revolution 4.0 rather than being a market in the era.

"Artificial intelligence is a solution for the country. Hence, it would not only be a market but also a player in the Industrial Revolution 4.0," Amin remarked at the Unika Atma Jaya campus in Jakarta on Monday.

AI can be used to develop new business models, he affirmed.

The vice president believes that development in the future would be affected by the disruption in various sectors of public life.

"The increased use of AI, big data, and information and communication technology will propel the industry to grow not in a linear manner but exponentially," he noted while highlighting the need for close cooperation between universities and the industrial sector.

To become a player in the industrial revolution, Indonesia will also require sufficient qualified human resources, Amin noted.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) data in February, of the total 137.90 million workers, only 14.22 million, or some 10.3 percent, were college graduates. (ANTARA)

Adi Budiarso (kemenkeu.go.id)

The Finance Ministry has reported that the realization of the budget for national economic recovery has reached Rp192.53 trillion as of August 26, 2020, accounting for 27.7 percent of the budget ceiling of Rp695.2 trillion.

“The figure is quite encouraging,” chief of the Financial Sector Policy Center of the Fiscal Policy Board at the Finance Ministry, Adi Budiarso, said at a hearing with Commission VI of the House of Representatives (DPR) in Jakarta on Monday.
The realization of budget funds for the health sector has reached Rp12.3 trillion of the Rp87.55-trillion ceiling; social protection Rp101.06 trillion of the Rp203.9-trillion ceiling; business incentives Rp17.23 trillion of the Rp120.61-trillion ceiling; and, micro, small, and medium businesses Rp47.03 trillion of the Rp123.46-trillion ceiling.

The realization of the budget for the sectoral post of ministries, non-ministerial government institutions, and regional governments have touched Rp14.91 trillion of the Rp106.11-trillion ceiling, while the budget for corporate financing with a ceiling of Rp53.57 trillion has not been realized.

The realization of the budget for national economic recovery since the first half of 2020 has reached 24.4 percent of the total allocation.

To speed up national economic recovery, the government has extended several programs until December 2020, expedited the processing of new proposals from various clusters, redesigned programs to make them more effective, and shortened the bureaucratic process.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has stressed that national economic recovery would largely depend on the availability of the coronavirus vaccine.

Once a vaccine is found, the government will distribute it to the public and expedite the treatment of COVID-19 patients, she said at an online discussion in Jakarta last Thursday.

"Whether the vaccine will soon be discovered and can be distributed will have an extraordinary impact on all activities of the community, including economic activities," she opined.



She said the government has drafted various policies to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 through the National Economic Recovery (PEN) program. (ANTARA)