VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck south of the Philippine capital Manila early on Saturday (Jul 24). (Image: Twitter/Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology) - 

An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 struck south of the Philippine capital early on Saturday (Jul 24), the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

The agency said aftershocks were expected from the tectonic earthquake, which had a depth of 116 km.

Some residents in the capital region were awakened by the quake that lasted nearly a minute.

"The quake was deep so there is no tsunami," Renato Solidum, director of the Seismology agency, told DZRH radio station. "In Manila, the intensity 4.0 or 5.0 is strong but not yet destructive."

"It's very strong, we're alarmed," said police Major Ronnie Aurellano in Calatagan municipality, Batangas province, which is south of Manila and near the epicentre of the quakes.

"It's raining very hard here as well, but our people here are used to earthquakes. They're aware of the duck, hold and cover when there's an earthquake."

The epicentre is 16km southwest of Batangas province, Solidum said.

The Southeast Asian country is on the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire and experiences frequent earthquakes//CNA

Standard development acting deputy at BSN, Donny Purnomo. (ANTARA/HO-Humas Badan Standardisasi Nasional/uyu) - 

The National Standardization Agency (BSN) has said it is formulating Indonesian National Standards (SNI) for medical gases, which would serve as a reference for domestic producers in responding to increased medical oxygen needs amid the pandemic.

“We (BSN) expect this regulation to be applied by local producers, experts, and other stakeholders to keep innovating to fulfill the rising oxygen demand and improve the competitiveness of the industry amid this COVID-19 pandemic,” standard development acting deputy at BSN, Donny Purnomo, said here on Friday.

“It (The regulation) does not aim to supervise domestic circulation of imported medical gas products since the supervision can be conducted by giving requirements for the importers to meet the origin or international standards,” he added.

The jump in the number of COVID-19 patients in the second wave of the pandemic has led to a rise in the demand for medical oxygen, medical gas cylinders, regulators, flow meters, as well as oxygen concentrators, he said. Hence, the BSN is trying to identify international standards that can be adopted as SNI, he added.

As the first step, BSN said it will establish an SNI Formulation Technical Committee along with experts. After the committee is formed, a technical or consensus meeting will take place through the Republication Reprinted Adoption method. Then, a survey will be conducted for 20 days. Finally, the targeted SNI will be rolled out by the end of August, 2021, Purnomo said//ANT

A screenshot of Tourism and Creative Economy Minister, Sandiaga Uno, speaking at a discussion on 'Road to the 10 New Bali', held at the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore on Thursday (July 22, 2021). (ANTARA/HO-KBRI Singapura) - 

The Indonesian Embassy in Singapore and Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno organized a virtual tour of tourist destinations and a discussion on 'Road to the 10 New Bali' at the embassy on Thursday.

During the discussion, participants were introduced to tourist spots in Labuan Bajo and Bromo through videos and photos.

“Tourism is a powerful weapon that can be utilized to recover Indonesia’s economy post-pandemic,” Uno stated in a press release issued by the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore on Friday.

The event on Thursday was part of a series of discussions organized to promote the second edition of the book Road to the 10 New Bali.

Thursday's discussion, streamed as episode five of the discussion series, focused on Labuan Bajo and Bromo.

The 10 New Bali book was compiled by the Indonesian diaspora in Singapore as well as foreigners keen on photography and Indonesian tourists, Uno said.

The book will help accelerate preparations to present more qualified and sustainable tourism and creative economy sectors, he added.

Concurring with Uno, Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore Suryo Pratomo expressed the hope that the book as well as the embassy's endeavors towards tourism promotion would support the Indonesian tourism sector's development.

The second edition of the book not only features pictures of 10 leading tourist destinations -- Lake Toba, Belitung, Tanjung Lesung, Seribu Islands, Prambanan and Borobudur Temples, Bromo Tenger Semeru National Park, Mandalika Lombok, Labuan Bajo and Komodo National Park, Wakatobi, and Morotai, but it also provides important information for travelers planning to visit the destinations, he said.

During the discussion, photographers shared stories behind the photos and videos of Labuan Bajo and Bromo with participants, he added.

The embassy said it expects the creative promotion of Indonesia’s tourist destinations to make travelers keen to visit Indonesia after the pandemic ends//ANT

Foreign capital inflows - 

Foreign capital inflows into Indonesia reached Rp2.45 trillion in the week from July 19 to July 22, 2021, Bank Indonesia (BI) reported.  

They comprised Rp1.24 trillion accrued from net sales in the government bond market and Rp1.21 trillion from net purchases in the share market, it added.

"Overall, net inflows in the domestic money market have reached Rp2.53 trillion from January 1 to July 22, 2021," executive director, chief of BI's communication department, Erwin Haryono said in a written statement on Friday.

The central bank said Indonesia's investment risk premium, reflected by the five-year credit default swap (CDS), increased from 77.53 basis points (bps) as of July 16, 2021 to 78.52 bps.

Meanwhile, yield on 10-year government bonds fell slightly from 6.28 percent on July 22, 2021 to 6.27 percent on July 23, 2021, it added.

Haryono said the rupiah traded at Rp14,490 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday morning, falling slightly from the close of Rp14,480 per US dollar the day before.

Meanwhile, the US dollar index strengthened to 92.82 and yields on US bonds fell to 1.278 percent on Thursday (July 22, 2021), he added.

BI will continue to coordinate with the government and related authorities to monitor the spread of COVID-19 and its impact on the national economy, Haryono said//ANT