VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The economic growth of a number of developed and developing countries showed improvement in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the second quarter of 2020 as achieved by Indonesia, and this illustrates that the world economy is starting to recover from the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga said in a press conference from the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, Thursday, that the economies of a number of Southeast Asian countries were also showing a positive trend, although the contraction was still looming with a smaller dose.

"Compared to various countries, almost all trends are positive, meaning that the world is starting to recover," said the Coordinating Minister for Airlangga.

Indonesia recorded economic growth of minus 3.49 percent annually (year on year / yoy) in the third quarter of 2020, which continued the contraction from the second quarter of 2020 which was minus 5, 32 percent (you).

Although still experiencing a contraction, Airlangga said the pace of the domestic economy was heading towards a recovery path.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga believes Indonesia has passed the deepest phase of an economic slowdown. The former Minister of Industry hopes that in the fourth quarter of 2020, the economy can reverse to a positive trend, although there is the possibility that it will still be trapped at a negative level.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga's projection for economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2020 is -1.6 percent to 0.6 percent. By quarter to quarter, Indonesia's economic growth in the third quarter of 2020 has reached 5.05 percent (q -to-q).

Several business sectors, he said, also experienced improvements in the third half of this year, compared to the second half of 2020.

However, if you look at the growth of business fields from year to year (yoy), there is still a slowdown in several sectors.

"We see it by sector, agriculture, mining, processing. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, processing increased 5.25 percent. And also recycle-based procurement also rose 8 percent. Warehousing also increased soaring that it boosted consumption to 24.48 percent," said the Coordinating Minister for Airlangga. 

He hopes that the economic recovery will continue in the fourth quarter of 2020. He saw several macro-economic indicators such as the manufacturing index, motor vehicle sales data, consumer confidence index, and retail sales continue to stretch.

"In addition, sales of raw materials and auxiliary materials have also increased, showing that the industry has started to (recover)," said the Coordinating Minister for Airlangga. (Antaranews)

The Task Force for Handling COVID-19 reported that up to Thursday at 12.00 WIB, the total number of confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia had reached 425,796 people after the addition of 4,065 people today.

Data collected from Wednesday (4/11) to Thursday afternoon also showed that the number of patients recovering from the respiratory disease had increased by 3,860 to 357,142 people.

According to data received from the COVID-19 Handling Task Force in Jakarta on Thursday, the total death toll has reached 14,348 after increasing 89 people today.

Thus, to date, there are 54,306 active cases or positive patients who are still undergoing treatment or undergoing independent isolation. In addition, there are also 55,943 people who fall into the aspect category.

The number of additional new cases was obtained after the authorities today examined 39,581 specimens from 31,306 people in 426 laboratories throughout Indonesia.

To date, 4,678,096 specimens have been examined from 3,001,189 people since the first case of COVID-19 appeared in Indonesia in March 2020.

COVID-19 cases have been found in 34 provinces in Indonesia with 502 districts/cities affected by the disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2.

Five provinces that reported the most additional cases today are DKI Jakarta with 797 new cases, West Java 627 new cases, Central Java 360 new cases, East Kalimantan 307 new cases, and East Java with 278 new cases.

Meanwhile, DKI Jakarta is still the province with the highest total number of cases reaching 109,411 cases, with 98,715 of whom have been declared cured and 2,328 people died. Only one province has reported no new cases, namely Gorontalo. (Antaranews)

The Presidential Staff Office (KSP) stated that the Indonesian economy had exceeded its lowest point and now starting to recover.

Chief Expert Deputy KSP III Edy Priyono said this in Jakarta, on Thursday, addressing the realization of Indonesia's economic growth in the third quarter of 2020 which amounted to minus 3.49 percent annually (year on year).

Even though in the third quarter of 2020 the economy was still negative annually, Edy said, when compared to quarter to quarter the economy grew by 5.05 percent (quarter to quarter).

Meanwhile, cumulatively, Indonesia's economic growth during the first to the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 contracted by 2.03 percent.

"Thus there will be a significant economic improvement, and this can be a good capital to move into the fourth quarter of 2020," said Edy.

Annual economic growth (yoy) in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the second quarter of 2020 also improved due to the smaller level of contraction. In the second quarter of 2020, annual economic growth contracted to minus 5.3 percent.

Currently, said Edy, what is very important is the way to ensure that further policies can be effective to restore the economy.

"The government's strategy to design several programs in the National Economic Recovery (PEN) is the right step. In addition, the government continues to encourage government spending," he said.

This aligns with the countercyclical policy to fight the economic slowdown. This means that when the economy is sluggish, he said, government spending can become a mainstay to encourage the economy so it can reverse the cycle of an economic slowdown.

Edy said that the policy for counter-cycles must continue as long as the economy has not fully recovered.

In addition, he continued, the middle-upper group should continue to be encouraged to increase their consumption.

"So far, it is suspected that they have put a lot of their money into savings. The government needs to support it by enforcing the rules on health protocols because middle-upper-class groups will only want to go out and shop (physically) if they feel safe,” he said.

Until now, he said, the government was still consistent with handling the impact of COVID-19 through various aspects. The first aspect is health by controlling the spread of COVID-19, increasing the recovery rate, and reducing the death rate.

The second aspect is social protection by maintaining people's purchasing power, and the third aspect, namely maintaining the maximum possible economic and financial sector so that the business world can continue to recover.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, said Edy, Indonesia's economic growth was also better than several other countries.

Based on BPS data, there are countries whose economic growth in the third quarter of 2020 is better than Indonesia, such as China (4.9 percent), Taiwan (3.3 percent), and Vietnam (2.62 percent).

South Korea and the United States were also slightly better than Indonesia, although the growth of the two countries in the third quarter of 2020 was also still negative, namely minus 1.3 percent and minus 2.9 percent, respectively.

However, several other countries experienced a worse contraction than Indonesia in the third quarter of 2020, such as Singapore (-7.0 percent) and Mexico (-8.58 percent).

"If you look at this comparison, Indonesia's growth is quite good. The most important thing is, our growth in the third quarter of 2020 was better than the second quarter of 2020, thus showing that we are gradually moving towards economic recovery," he said. (Antaranews)

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (SJP) said Wednesday that Israel has killed over 46 members of the Palestinian press since the Al-Aqsa Intifada erupted in 2000.

This was revealed in a demonstration held in front of the UN headquarters in the Gaza Strip on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

The SJP deputy chairman, Tahseen al-Astal, asked the United Nations to take on its responsibility in protecting journalists and bringing to justice the perpetrators of Israeli crimes against Palestinian journalists.

"Syndicates annually count between 500 - 700 occupation and (Israeli) crime attacks against Palestinian journalists and now is the time to stop these crimes and hold accountable those who committed crimes and those who issued orders," Al-Astal said.

He stressed that Israel's violations of journalists "aim to silence the press while preventing factual images from being conveyed to the world."

Israel has a long history of targeting journalists, the New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists documented 17 confirmed murder cases of journalists in Israel and in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1992.

As many as 15 journalists were shot dead by Israel in 2014, when Israel launched its final massive offensive against blockaded Gaza and killed more than 2,200 Palestinians. It was the bloodiest year for journalists in Palestine. (Anadolu-Antaranews)