VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo led a plenary cabinet meeting at the Bogor Palace, West Java, on Tuesday, for holding discussions on budget allocation and indicative budgetary ceiling for 2020.

"I am keen to carry forward what we had discussed yesterday regarding budget allocation and the indicative ceiling," he noted.

The head of state drew emphasis on bolstering and stepping up capital expenditure as the key areas of focus in budget allocation for 2020.

"Every ministry should be in a position to direct its organization into materializing its budget expenditure," he remarked.

The president has appealed to ministries and state institutions to curtail goods expenditure as far as possible. "Mrs. Finance Minister (Sri Mulyani), you should be referring to 2017, as a benchmark year, to drive efforts to achieving those figures," Jokowi reiterated.

The president further appealed to ministries to lay priority on the development of human resources in 2020.

"We will hold specific discussions for concerned ministries, comprising for (formulating) an incentive provision policy for firms that take part in holding large-scale trainings and courses within and outside the nation," he stated.

The president is optimistic that the course and training programs would be held in 2019, the outcomes of which would be amply visible in the subsequent years.

Vice President M. Jusuf Kalla, Sri Mulyani, Minister State Secretary Pratikno, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Wiranto, and Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto were among the attendees at the plenary cabinet meeting. (ant)

23 April is a symbolic date for world literature. It is on this date in 1616 that Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. It is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors, such as Maurice Druon, Haldor K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.

It was a natural choice for UNESCO's General Conference, held in Paris in 1995, to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those, who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity. With this in mind, UNESCO created the World Book and Copyright Day.

2019 Celebration

The 24th edition of World Book and Copyright Day will celebrate literature and reading while focusing particularly on the importance of enhancing and protecting Indigenous languages.  As a vector of knowledge, books bring people together around a story and a common heritage while revealing their specificities through different cultures, identities and languages. The focus on this topic is fully in line with the celebration of the International Year of the Indigenous Languages. 

Indonesia's budget deficit in the quarter ended March 31, 2019, totaled Rp102 trillion, accounting for 0.63 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP), according to the finance ministry. The first-quarter budget deficit rose slightly compared to 0.58 percent of the GDP in the same quarter last year.

"The budget deficit in the first quarter of 2019 was 0.63 percent of the GDP. Meanwhile, the target of the budget deficit for this year is 1.84 percent of the GDP," chief of the ministry's fiscal policy board, Suahasil Nazara, said at a press conference on the latest development of the state budget in Jakarta Monday.

The realization of state revenues until the end of the first quarter reached Rp350.1 trillion or 16.17 percent of the budget allocations worth Rp2,165.1 trillion, according to the ministry's data for the April 2019 period. The state revenues rose 4.9 percent compared to the same period last year.

The state revenues were mostly fueled by tax receipts which reached Rp248.98 trillion or 15.78 percent of the target of Rp1,577.6 trillion. The tax receipts grew 1.82 percent.

Meanwhile, customs and excise receipts jumped 73.04 percent annually to Rp30.97 trillion, accounting for 14.83 percent of the target of Rp208.82 trillion.

However, due to a shortfall in oil and commodity prices in the first quarter of 2019, non-tax state revenues fell 1.47 percent to Rp70.04 trillion.

State spending in the first quarter of 2019 reached Rp452.06 trillion, up 7.75 percent annually.

State spending comprised the central government's spending which rose 11.4 percent to Rp260.7 trillion while the transfer of funds to regions and village funds reached Rp191.33 trillion, up 3.09 percent.

Social aid rose 106.6 percent to Rp36.trillion per annum or 38 percent of the ceiling of the social aid set forth in the 2019 state budget at Rp224.41 trillion.

As such, the primary balanced deficit stood at Rp31.38 trillion as of the end of March 2019. (ant) 

President Joko Widodo expressed his condolences over the death of a number of  clerks from the Vote station (KPPS) and other officers who helped organize the 2019 Election.

"Once again on behalf of the state and society, I say a very deep sorrow," said President Jokowi in a restaurant located in the Menteng area, Central Jakarta, on Monday (4/22) night.

The Head of State considered, KPPS officers were fighters of democracy who died in their duties. For this reason, on behalf of the state and society, the President expressed his condolences.

According to the records of the General Election Commission (KPU) there were 91 KPPS clerks dead, and 374 sick people in 19 provinces.

"The pain varies," said KPU Chair Arief Budiman in Jakarta on Monday (4/22).

KPU plans to meet with the Ministry of Finance to discuss the possibility of providing compensation to the KPPS clerks who died in carrying out their duties.

"The KPU proposes compensation rates for deceased KPPS members of Rp30-36 million, while those who are sick to disabilities are a maximum of Rp30 million, and for those injured the maximum compensation amount is Rp16 million," Arief said. (biro pers )