VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves at the end of August 2020 amounted to US$137.0 billion, an increase compared to the position at the end of the previous month which was the US $135.1 billion.

The sum is equivalent to financing 9.4 months of imports or 9.0 months of imports of government external debt and is above the international adequacy standard (3 months of imports).

"The Central Bank of Indonesia (BI) considers that the foreign exchange reserves can support external sector resilience and maintaining macroeconomic and financial system stability," Onny Widjanarko, executive director of the Communication Department of BI said in a press release on Monday.

He explained the increase in foreign exchange reserves in August 2020 was influenced by the withdrawal of government foreign loans, tax revenues, and oil and gas foreign exchange.

In the future, BI sees that foreign exchange reserves will remain adequate, supported by stable and maintained economic prospects, along with various policy responses to promote economic recovery. (Antaranews)

International seat capacity has dropped by almost 80% from a year ago and half the world's airplanes are in storage, new data shows, suggesting the aviation industry may take years to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Carriers including United Airlines Holdings Inc and Air New Zealand Ltd have warned they are likely to emerge from the crisis smaller, and there are fears others may not survive.

"It is likely that when we get across to the other side of the pandemic, things won't return to the vibrant market conditions we had at the start of the year," said Olivier Ponti, vice president at data firm ForwardKeys.

"It's also possible that a number of airlines will have gone bust and uneconomic discounts will be necessary to attract demand back," he said in a statement.

ForwardKeys said the number of international airline seats had fallen to 10 million in the week of March 30 to April 5, down from 44.2 million a year ago.

Data firm OAG said several years of industry growth had been lost and it could take until 2022 or 2023 before the volume of flyers returns to the levels that had been expected for 2020.

Cirium, another aviation data provider, said around half of the world's airplane fleet was now in storage.

"While many of these will be temporary storage, many of these aircraft will never resume service," Cowen analyst Helane Becker said in a note to clients. "We believe the airline industry will look very different when we get to the other side of this."

Planemakers are looking at drastic cuts in wide-body production amid a slump in demand for the industry's largest jetliners, manufacturing and supplier sources said.

Deliveries of long-range jets like the Boeing Co 777 or 787 and Airbus SE A350 or A330 have been particularly badly hit as airlines seek deferrals and many withhold progress payments.

Flights cut, staff furloughed 

Vasu Raja, American Airlines Group Inc senior vice president of network strategy, told Reuters that US domestic demand will remain weak into May, citing the lack of bookings.

The airline is cutting between 70% and 75% of domestic flights in April and about 80% in May. For both months it is cutting nearly 90% of its international flights.

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd said on Friday it would further cut passenger capacity after carrying just 582 passengers one day this week, a load factor of 18.3%, compared to 100,000 customers on a normal day.

Air New Zealand carried just 165 passengers on its 89 flights on Thursday, underpinning its decision to make further cuts to its schedule while the country is in lockdown due to the virus, Chief Revenue Officer Cam Wallace said on Twitter. Southwest Airlines Co said on Thursday it intends to apply for US government aid to help it ride out the sharp drop in travel demand.

"We still don't know the severity of this situation. We still don't know how long it will last," Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly said in a video message.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday confirmed investment bank PJT Partners Inc will advise the Treasury on negotiations with passenger airlines over a stimulus package worth up to $50 billion, half in loans and loan guarantees and half in payroll cash grants.

Many Democrats and airline labour unions are urging Mnuchin not to exercise the right to demand equity or warrants in return for the grant portion, as they seek to ensure carriers take the funds and pay workers.

"We need to get this done quickly," Mnuchin said. "We'll make sure that we strike the right balance ... taxpayers get compensated."

"We want to keep our airlines intact."

The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry (KKP) has outlined a target to produce some 1.8 billion ornamental fish during 2020, as a commodity earning foreign exchange to sustain Indonesia’s economic growth.

"I think we will be able to boost production. Our advantages are development potential and varieties of commodities, with high economic value. Over 650 species of ornamental fish (freshwater and sea) are found in our waters," KKP Aquaculture Director General Slamet Soebjakto noted in a statement here on Saturday.

Currently, the economic contribution of ornamental fish to the export value of fishery products constituted 0.66 percent. He was upbeat about the country being able to boost the production of ornamental fish, with high economic value.

Currently, the ministry, along with other related institutions, have prepared a road map for accelerating national ornamental fish industrialization.

"This road map will outline various concrete strategies that include accelerating production, regulating trade systems, strengthening competitiveness and added value, investment, and expanding and strengthening the export market," he explained.

During the 2012-2018 period, the national production of ornamental fish grew by an average of 5.05 percent annually. In 2012, production had reached 938.47 million and rose to 1.19 billion in 2018.

At the upstream level, the ministry has encouraged the application of technological innovations that focus on increasing efficiency and productivity. One of the technologies developed is the Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) system that is able to boost productivity by up to 100 folds as compared to the conventional one.

Based on data of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), the value of ornamental fish exports had reached US$21.01 million in 2012 and increased to $32.23 million in 2018.

Blessed with abundant natural resources, Indonesia is one of the world's major exporters of ornamental fish.

Indonesia's freshwater is inhabited by at least 1,248 species of fish, 243 of which are endemic species and 122 species of ornamental shrimp. Indonesia's marine waters are home to at least 3,476 species of fish. (ANTARA)

Garuda Indonesia appointed ex-president director of state-owned telecommunication company PT Industri Telekomunikasi Indonesia (INTI) Irfan Setiaputra as president director of the national flag carrier at its extraordinary meeting of shareholders here, Wednesday.

"Garuda Indonesia’s president director is Irfan Setiaputra," Sahala Lumban Gaol, who chaired the meeting, noted here on Wednesday.

Setiaputra was the PT INTI president director from 2009 to 2012. He was then appointed to lead several companies, including Cipta Kridatama, Reswarw Minerga Hatama, and Sigfox Indonesia.

Gaol noted that Dony Oskaria was appointed as deputy president director of Garuda Indonesia at the extraordinary meeting of shareholders.

The appointment of new president director and vice president director of Garuda Indonesia was part of the meeting's agenda. The other agenda pertained to a change in the company's organizational structure in response to a proposal from the board of commissioners through a letter, dated December 9, 2019, regarding an extraordinary meeting of Garuda Indonesia's shareholders.

The extraordinary meeting of shareholders was held in line with the Financial Service Authority’s (OJK's) Regulation No. 32/POJK.04/2014 on the plan and organization of a general meeting of publicly listed company's shareholders, according to information from Garuda Indonesia.

Special staff of the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry Arya Sinulingga had earlier noted that the new president director of Garuda Indonesia would be an outsider not embroiled in legal tussles. (ANTARA)