VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The government is preparing priority targets for COVID-19 vaccination recipients ranging from medical personnel to the poor receiving BPJS Health contribution assistance.

"First in the front line consisting of medical and paramedics, health services, including the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and police and legal officers, around 3.5 million people," said the Head of the COVID-19 Handling Team and National Economic Recovery (PC-PEN) Airlangga Hartarto in an online press conference, in Jakarta, Monday.

Then community leaders, religious leaders, to five million regional apparatus, educators ranging from Early Childhood Education (PAUD), Kindergarten, Primary School, Junior High School to lecturers of private and state universities up to 4.3 million people.

Furthermore, the central and regional government officials, and up to 2.3 million legislative people and BPJS Health Contribution Assistance Recipients are 96 million people with a total of 102 million people.

In addition, continued Airlangga Hartarto, the target recipients of vaccination are people aged 19-59 years so that the total number of people reaches 160 million people.

We will give the vaccination in two doses so that the total need for vaccine reaches 320 million doses of vaccine.

Apart from the government, continued Airlangga Hartarto, we will also carry out vaccination by companies that cooperate for independent vaccination.

"So there are two steps, namely given the government and the rest are independent vaccines, all controlled by the Ministry of Health and Bio Farma based on the Presidential Decree that has been signed by the President," said Airlangga who is also the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs.

Vaccination activities, he continued, cannot be done one at a time, but we estimate it that in stages until 2022, it will also involve 11 thousand health centers throughout Indonesia. (Antaranews)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watched tens of thousands of dancers, gymnasts, and other performers in a large-scale celebration on Sunday of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party.

The party’s newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, on Monday, published a photograph of Kim, flanked by top aides at a long banqueting table, waving to the audience.

State broadcaster KCNA said Kim was greeted by loud cheers as he made his entrance on Sunday for the “Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance, ‘Great Guidance’.”

The event came a day after an unprecedented nighttime military parade, which showcased an unusually broad array of the country’s new weapons.

North Korea revived the so-called Mass Games in 2018, following a five-year hiatus, to sell an image of international engagement and peace while raising much needed foreign currency.

Despite the name, the Mass Games are large performances involving tens of thousands of dancers, gymnasts, martial artists, and singers acting out familiar propaganda themes.

The North Korea national flag and the Workers’ Party flag were hoisted to musical numbers on Sunday including “The Workers’ Party Is Our Guide” and “Along the Road of Socialism”, KCNA reported.

The games are usually a major draw for tourists, most of them from China, but rights groups say the inclusion of thousands of child performers is tantamount to forced child labor, and testimony collected by defector groups describes harsh training regimes.

The games went ahead this year despite strict border controls and quarantine measures imposed to prevent an outbreak of the coronavirus. Analysts say that would be devastating for the economically and politically isolated country, which is yet to report any confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Kim and his official entourage were not wearing masks in the Rodong Sinmun photograph of Sunday’s event, in contrast to the crowds of suited spectators in the large stadium behind them. (Reuters)

Indonesia’s central bank is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Tuesday and continue to focus on supporting Southeast Asia’s largest economy via quantitative easing, according to analysts in a Reuters poll on Monday.

All but two of 27 analysts in the poll expected Bank Indonesia (BI) to maintain its 7-day reverse repurchase rate IDCBRR=ECI at 4.00%, where it has been since July. The two contrarians said BI would cut the rate by 25 basis points.

BI has trimmed the rate to four times this year for a total of 100 basis points, bought government bonds, and loosened lending rules to bolster Indonesia’s coronavirus-stricken economy.

Analysts with ANZ said the rate would likely be kept unchanged as the rupiah IDR= "has remained fairly weak, despite regaining a bit of ground in recent days".

“The decision to stay on hold does not imply that BI is stepping away from monetary accommodation. Rather, it is changing its composition from rate cuts to quantitative easing,” the ANZ analysts wrote in a note on Friday.

BI Governor Perry Warjiyo said in the bank’s last two meetings that quantitative easing was preferable for boosting the economy, with rates kept steady to maintain an attractive spread for portfolio investors.

The rupiah had been under pressure after analysts raised concerns over a proposed amendment of the central bank act that could undermine BI’s independence and prolong its debt monetization operations, which are currently allowed only as a response to the pandemic.

But the currency has gained after last week’s passage of President Joko Widodo’s Job Creation bill, which economists say could improve the nation’s investment climate, even as the law triggers nationwide protests.

Some analysts see more cuts still to come, with inflation below BI’s 2%-4% target and the economy needing support. The median forecast of a smaller pool of analysts in the poll is for a key rate of 3.75% by the third quarter of next year.

Indonesia’s GDP will shrink for the first time in over two decades this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a government estimate, compared with a 5% growth in 2019. (Reuters)

Deputy Minister of Finance Suahasil Nazara stated that Indonesia is currently working to continue to improve the economy in order to achieve the Golden Vision of 2045 while still prioritizing handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

This vision is for Indonesia to target gross domestic product or GDP to reach seven trillion US dollars, so that it is able to become a country that is included in the top five world economic powers by 2045.

"Our point of view is that Indonesia continues to improve its economy to achieve its golden vision of 2045," he said in an online discussion in Jakarta.

Suahasil said the government remains focused on handling the pandemic because it has caused a crisis that hinders the government's efforts to achieve Indonesia's target to become a developed country by 2045.

He said that in fact, the situation in January this year was quite optimistic, but when the pandemic began to enter the country, namely in February, March, until now it has caused enormous changes in the economy.

"We see very basic changes due to the pandemic, but we are still on the path for Indonesia 2045, a developed country," he said.

He explained that the first quarter of this year experienced a deep pressure, which was only able to grow 2.97 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic from the usual up to 5 percent.

Then, in the second quarter of 2020, the pressure was increasing in the economy, which contracted by 5.32 percent due to the large-scale social restriction (PSBB) policy to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, in the third quarter, there has been a recovery in economic activity, although it is predicted that it will still experience contraction, but not as deep as the previous quarter.

"We will keep on track of progressing Indonesia, but still handle the pandemic," he said.

Therefore, Suahasil said that the government continues to strive to make the economic transformation in order to maintain the recovery that has occurred and to pursue Indonesia's vision of becoming a developed country by 2045.

According to him, economic transformation must still be carried out in the midst of a pandemic so that when the crisis has ended, Indonesia is ready to step further and jump forward.

He said the economic transformation was carried out by taking into account the composition of the Indonesian economy, namely household consumption which contributed 57 percent of GDP, investment contributed 30 percent to GDP, and government spending.

"Government spending is still the foundation, but after the pandemic is over, then the economy is advanced. We expect consumption and investment to increase" he said. (Antaranews)