VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the losses suffered by all countries in the world due to having to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past six months had reached around $9 trillion to $15 trillion.

"This is equivalent to nine to 15 times the size of the Indonesian economy. The impact was so devastating in less than six months,” Sri Mulyani said in Jakarta, Thursday.

Sri Mulyani stated that the loss was in line with the rate of world economic growth, which is predicted to experience a deep contraction this year, namely between 3-5 percent.

"Initially, in 2020 the world economy was estimated to grow by 3.4 percent, now it has turned into a contraction of 3 percent to 5 percent," Sri Mulyani said.

Meanwhile, she said the global panic due to the COVID-19 pandemic had implications for Indonesia, such as the outflow of foreign capital or capital outflows in the stock market which reached Rp 140 trillion.

Not only that, Sri Mulyani revealed that world panic had also caused the turmoil and the fall of the JCI, the Government Securities (SBN) market, and the domestic foreign exchange (forex) market.

She continued that this also contributed to the decline in economic activity and created a tremendous threat to human safety and welfare, which was reflected in the increasing unemployment and poverty.

"The threat of unemployment and poverty in all countries has increased sharply in a short time," said Sri Mulyani.

Social stability, economic and financial systems are also threatened due to the bankruptcy of the business world in all sectors ranging from transportation, hospitality, restaurants, manufacturing, trade, to construction.

"Various efforts to overcome COVID-19 with vaccine discovery efforts are still in the development process and require time and complicated preparation for implementation," she added.

"Export, import, and trade activities between countries have declined," she said.

However, Sri Mulyani said that the whole world is trying to overcome the crisis by finding a COVID-19 vaccine that is it requires a long and complicated process and preparation.

"The combination causes uncertainty in the economy and the financial sector is very high, while the predictability level of COVID-19, both in terms of impact and time for completion, is still very low," Sri Mulyani said. (Antaranews)

The U.S. national security adviser warned China on Wednesday against any attempt to take Taiwan by force, saying amphibious landings were notoriously difficult and there was a lot of ambiguity about how the United States would respond.
Robert O’Brien told an event at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas that China was engaged in a massive naval buildup probably not seen since Germany’s attempt to compete with Britain’s Royal Navy prior to World War One.

“Part of that is to give them the ability to push us back out of the Western Pacific, and allow them to engage in an amphibious landing in Taiwan,” he said.

“The problem with that is that amphibious landings are notoriously difficult,” O’Brien added, pointing to the 100-mile (160-km) distance between China and Taiwan and the paucity of landing beaches on the island.

“It’s not an easy task, and there’s also a lot of ambiguity about what the United States would do in response to an attack by China on Taiwan,” he added when asked what U.S. options would be if China moved to absorb Taiwan.

O’Brien was referring to a long-standing U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether it would intervene to protect Taiwan, which China considers its province and has vowed to bring under its control, by force if necessary.

The United States is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, but it has not made clear whether it would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack, something that would likely lead to a much broader conflict with Beijing.

O’Brien’s comments come when China has significantly stepped up military activity near Taiwan and when U.S.-China relations have plunged to the lowest point in decades in the run-up to President Donald Trump’s Nov. 3 re-election bid.

O’Brien repeated U.S. calls for Taiwan to spend more on its own defense and to carry out military reforms to make clear to China the risks of attempting to invade.

“You can’t just spend 1% of your GDP, which the Taiwanese have been doing - 1.2% - on defense, and hope to deter a China that’s been engaged in the most massive military build-up in 70 years,” he said.

Taiwan needed to “turn themselves into a porcupine” militarily, he said, adding: “Lions generally don’t like to eat porcupines.”

On Tuesday, the senior U.S. defense official for East Asia called Taiwan’s plan to boost defense spending by $1.4 billion next year insufficient.

He said it needed to invest in capabilities including more coastal defense cruise missiles, naval mines, fast-attack craft, mobile artillery, and advanced surveillance assets.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, in a response provided to Reuters, said they will “strive for an adequate budget” in accordance with their needs to build a solid national defense force. (Reuters)

Indonesia’s state miner Mining Industry Indonesia (MIND ID), formerly known as PT Inalum, completed its purchase of a 20% stake in nickel miner PT Vale Indonesia, the country’s state-owned enterprises ministry said on Thursday.

MIND ID bought the 20% stake at Rp 2,780 per share, totaling to Rp 5.52 trillion ($375.77 million), the ministry said in a statement.

Brazil's Vale Group controls 44.34% of PT Vale Indonesia INCO.JK, while Japan's Sumimoto Metal Mining Co. Ltd holds 15.93% of shares, the ministry said.

MIND ID bought a 14.9% stake from Vale Canada Ltd, the Canadian subsidiary of Vale Group, and 5.1% from Sumimoto, according to the statement.

“With this transaction, we add more state ownership in the mining sector,” state-owned enterprises minister Erick Thohir said.

“This is also a great step to strengthen the value chain in Indonesian and the development of the battery industry for electric cars.”

The Indonesian government is keen to build a holistic onshore electric vehicle (EV) industry, covering everything from the production of nickel chemicals needed for batteries, through to producing those batteries and eventually building vehicles domestically.

Mining Industry Indonesia changed its name from PT Inalum in August to distinguish its holding company function from its smelting operational business. (Reuters)

The Malaysian Immigration Department has introduced a new system for applying for entry and exit permits for Malaysians and foreigners (WNA) known as MyTravelPass.

Director of the Malaysian Immigration Department, Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud in Putrajaya, on Thursday, said the new system could indirectly save the duration of applications compared to before.

Prior to this, the time required by his party to approve the application is between seven to 10 days.

"Previously, the application process using e-mail of 9,000 e-mails was received a day. For that reason we had to filter the accepted ones first because there are repeated applications, then only then can approve the related application," he said.

The official website is at www.imi.gov.my or https://mtp.imi.gov.my.

"This system is in line with the government's efforts to digitize and improve government services as announced by the Chief Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali," he said.

Khairul Dzaimee said among the applications that can be submitted through this system include applications for entry through the Singapore Returning Green Line (RGL), applications for entry through Singapore Periodic Return Rules (PCA), and exit applications by Malaysians (which have considerable reasons).

In addition, applications for entry by foreigners or permanent residents (PR), applications for entry by employers for the category of foreign maids (PRA) and temporary work visit passes (PLKS) can also apply are foreigners in the category of citizen couple or resident couple permanent or children of citizens and permanent residents.

"In addition, foreigners in the category of expatriates and applications for entry by foreigners in the category of Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H)," he said. (Antaranews)