VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Left-wing groups demonstrate against the agreement of Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez's government with the International Monetary Fund that seeks to refinance a debt of US$44 billon, in Buenos Aires on Dec 11, 2021 (Photo: AFP/File/Alejandro Pagni) - 

Argentina's government suffered an embarrassing defeat on Friday (Dec 17) as its 2022 budget was rejected by parliament, with Economy Minister Martin Guzman insisting this would "affect" its debt renegotiations with the International Monetary Fund.

Guzman said the defeat "weakens us as a nation-state within Argentina and before the world. And that hurts us".

The defeat came just hours before President Alberto Fernandez held a virtual meeting with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva.

"I spoke with the head of the IMF @KGeorgieva," said Fernandez on Twitter.

"We both recognized the unexpected problem of the budget rejection but promised to continue working fully focused on bringing about an agreement that does not compromise the continuity of the inclusive economic recovery."

The proposed budget envisaged 2022 growth of four per cent, compared to around 10 per cent in 2021, and a relative controlling of inflation at 33 per cent, well below this year's 50 per cent.

But it was defeated by 132 to votes to 121 in the lower house Chamber of Deputies, where the governing center-left alliance is in the minority.

It is the first example of the problems that face Fernandez during the final two years of his mandate following last month's midterm legislative elections defeat.

Having already been in the minority in the Chamber of Deputies, Fernandez's Frente de Todos (Everyone's Front) coalition also lost control of the upper house Senate.

Guzman said the rebuttal "signifies rejecting the macro-economic program that is the basis for the negotiations with the IMF to refinance the absurd and damaging US$44 billion debt".

Fernandez's government has been attempting to renegotiate the terms of the IMF debt - acquired under his liberal predecessor Mauricio Macri - almost since the moment he took office.

At the beginning of the week, Guzman said Argentina can "in no way amortize the repayments of around US$18 billion in 2022 and US$19 billion in 2023". 

Even so, Georgieva wrote on Twitter that she had a "very good meeting with President @alferdez (Fernandez) on advancing our work to sustain #Argentina's recovery and address its economic challenges". 

Already in recession since 2018, the coronavirus pandemic plunged Argentina into an even worse economic crisis.

The country has one of the world's highest inflation rates and a poverty rate of 42 percent for a population of 45 million.

The opposition dismissed the proposed budget as a pipe dream.

"Guzman proposes an idyllic scenario with growth and low inflation, ignoring the critical situation the country is going through with a fiscal deficit it cannot finance, inflation over 50 percent, an exchange rate gap of 100 per cent and a fiscal deficit of three points of GDP," said opposition lawmaker Luciano Laspina, explaining the rejection.

The blow means Argentina will have to extend the 2021 budget, but paradoxically that could afford it greater leeway in the allocation of resources since the executive will not be constrained by voted budgetary allocations//CNA

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin at the commemoration of 2021 International Migrants Day in Jakarta on Saturday (December 18, 2021). (ANTARA/HO-Vice President Secretariat/rst) - 

The government is continuing to uphold its commitment to protecting Indonesian migrant workers and improving the quality of management related to the migrant sector, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has said.

"The government continues to maintain its commitment in terms of protecting Indonesian migrant workers and improving the quality of management of this sector," Amin said at the commemoration of 2021 International Migrants Day on Saturday.

Working abroad is not easy since it requires an employee to be far from home and relatives in Indonesia, he noted.

The Vice President lauded migrant workers who have gone through various challenges and fought their homesickness to continue their work and struggle in a foreign country.

"Working abroad, away from home, is certainly not always easy. The migrant workers must have gone through hard times while working in someone else's country," Amin remarked.

However, he said that returning to Indonesia with work experience as a migrant worker can strengthen communities in areas where the migrant workers come from.

"If the migrant workers return to our country with new experiences, new skills, and new networks, I hope it can help strengthen the community in their respective areas," he remarked.

According to data from the Organization for Migration, in 2020, as many as 281 million people or equivalent to 3.6 percent of the global population migrated across national borders, he noted.

Of this figure, there were millions of Indonesians who sent a huge amount of remittance funds to Indonesia, Amin said.

"The value of remittances sent to Indonesia has reached Rp 160 trillion per year or the second-largest of Indonesia's earnings after the oil and gas sector," he added.

Therefore, the Vice President said that migrant workers are national foreign exchange heroes because they have been brave, worked hard, and sacrificed a lot for their family, nation, and country//ANT

Vice President Ma’ruf Amin. (ANTARA/HO-Setwapres) - 

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has urged all higher education institutions and universities to strengthen collaboration and cooperation with industries to face the changing reality.

"To face challenges of change, higher education institutions must continue to transform and strengthen collaboration with the business and industry world," he said at the 5th International Seminar and Conference on Global Issues (ISCoGI) 2021, which he virtually from here on Saturday.

Aside from collaborating with industries, higher education institutions must also expand cooperation with governments, organizations, non-governmental organizations, and the media, he added.

"Transformation and collaboration are necessary to help (higher education institutions) become world-class higher education institutions," Amin said.

To harmonize the application of science with the industry's needs, the Vice President asked universities to develop research with related parties, such as with other universities and the business world.

Higher education institutions must also rejuvenate the governance and management of the education system by developing good governance and the values of transparency, accountability, responsibility, independence, and quality assurance, he said.

"Higher education institutions, as activators of innovation, can initiate collaboration in the form of joint research. This is essential so that financing is more efficient, and the development of science and technology is in line with the needs of industry and society," he remarked.

In addition, the Vice President also said that the research conducted by universities must be adaptive to current advancements in technology.

"For example, many research institutions have utilized artificial intelligence and big data in mass surveys. The results of the analysis and policy recommendations are close to real-time, so it is difficult to be matched by manual survey methods," he expounded.

The Vice President expressed the hope that higher education institutions in Indonesia would become cultural centers and movers of social change to help build a democratic society that thinks ahead and has a noble character//ANT

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin announced Indonesia's first Omicron case earlier this week. (ANTARA FOTO/Fauzan/nz) - 

A senior legislator has urged the Indonesian government to increase surveillance at international travel entry at airports across the country to stem the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

"Omicron cases have been found in Indonesia. Therefore, we need to be alert at our travel entry, particularly our international airports," Saleh Partaonan Daulay said in a statement that ANTARA received here Saturday.

The member of Commission IX of the House of Representatives overseeing healthcare and manpower expressed concern over reports of suspected Omicron infection in several Chinese migrant workers in Indonesia.

To prevent them from transmitting the new variant of the novel coronavirus disease to others, the migrant workers from Mainland China who arrived in Indonesia must be cautiously isolated, Daulay said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated Omicron as a "variant of concern" and to halt its spread, the Indonesian government must suspend the issuance of entry permits to Chinese workers, he added.

"If several of them are allowed to enter Indonesia during the increased risk of Omicron infections, they must be highly-skilled workers whose expertise cannot be substituted by Indonesian workers," he said.

ANTARA has reported earlier that Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin announced Indonesia's first Omicron case on Thursday.

The first person to be infected with the new variant is a janitor working at the Wisma Atlet Kemayoran emergency hospital for COVID-19, he informed.

The case was detected after three workers at the hospital were found positive for COVID-19, he said.

In response to the detection of the first Omicron case, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has asked people to stay calm.

"It is important to be vigilant, but do not panic," he said, adding that so far, the Omicron variant has not caused severe symptoms, especially in patients who have been vaccinated.

He also asked Indonesians to get vaccinated without delay to protect themselves and to continue to implement strict health protocols//ANT