VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Efforts to evacuate victims of an Mi-17 helicopter that crashed on Mount Mandala, Oksob Sub-district, Pegunungan Bintang District, Papua Province, were hindered by bad weather, according to an official.

In addition to the bad weather, difficult terrain posed an obstacle to the evacuation operation, Col. Infantry Binsar Sianipar, commander of the military regional command (Korem) 172/PWY, stated here on Tuesday.

The ill-fated helicopter is believed to be in a mountainous area at 12,500 feet above sea level, with a slope of around 90 degrees, or perpendicular.

A helicopter, earlier deployed to locate the Mi-17 helicopter, managed to spot it only once while being airborne and was compelled to return to Oksibil owing to bad weather, Sianipar stated, adding that most likely, the rescuers must head to the location on foot.

Mapping was being conducted to find the closest point to drop personnel for the evacuation operation.

The military has also sought assistance from local residents aware of the way to the location.

"Aerial and land evacuation will very likely continue on Wednesday (Feb 12) by deploying three Indonesian Army helicopters and a civilian helicopter belonging to Demonim Air," Sianipar remarked.

The Russia-made military helicopter, operated by the Indonesian Army Aviation Center, with 12 passengers aboard, including five members of the 725 Infantry Battalion/WRG, went missing during its flights from Oksibil to Sentani, Papua, on June 28, 2019. (ANTARA)

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin chaired a National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction’s (TNP2K’s) coordination meeting to discuss efforts to lower poverty rate to 6.5 percent and stunting rate to 14 percent by 2024.

Attendees at the meeting comprised Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (PMK) Muhadjir Effendy, Minister of Health Terawan Agus Putranto, Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian, Minister of Education and Culture Nadiem Makarim , Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani, Minister of Social Affairs Juliari Batubara, Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Areas and Transmigration Abdul Halim Iskandar, Minister of National Development Planning Suharso Monoarfa, and Head of the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) Hasto Wardoyo.

The government has prioritized efforts to expedite the reduction in stunting rate. The national stunting prevalence rate currently stands at 27.6 percent, down from 30.8 percent in 2018.

In line with the National Mid-Term Development Plan for the 2020-2024 period, the government has outlined a target to reduce the national poverty rate to 6.5-7 percent by the end of 2024. The number of poor people is expected to drop to between 18.34 million and 19.75 million.

To speed up poverty alleviation, the government has designed several programs aimed at reducing the burden of spending and increasing the income of the poor.

After the meeting, Vice President Amin witnessed the signing of several memoranda of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between TNP2K and private parties: PT Mayora Indah, PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) Thailand, Hadji Kalla Foundation, Hasanuddin University, and Airlangga University. (ANTARA)

Bank Indonesia (BI) is optimistic that Indonesia will record an economic growth of 5.1-5.5 percent this year despite a new strain of coronavirus that originated in China having spread to several other countries.

"Admittedly, the coronovarius outbreak is a global issue. However, the world believes it will be temporary. After its vaccine is found, the incident is forecast to last for six months," BI Deputy Governor Dody Budi Waluyo stated in Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara Province, on Monday.

The global economy will likely slow down in the first semester of 2020 and will thereafter improve along with the Chinese government's efforts to handle the impact of the coronavirus.

"The key rests with how fast China will find a way to tackle the virus. However, as what we look at now, all of the Chinese government's policies are very expansive to settle the existing problems," he stated.

He noted that the Indonesian economic growth in 2020 may be higher than that of 2019 that had reached 5.02 percent owing to BI's policy to cut the interest rate since 2019. This year, the policy should begin to have an impact on the national economy.

Moreover, the first phase of the US-China trade agreement has been inked. Both nations are entering the second phase. Thus, optimism has risen that the global economy or trade this year will perform better than that of last year.

If the global trade has improved, it will push the global commodity prices and eventually boost the exporters' income and so will the national income and consumption, he pointed out.

"If exports increase, producers' requirements to manufacture export goods will be higher and national income and investment will increase accordingly," he added. (ANTARA)

The Indonesian rupiah strengthened against the US dollar in the Jakarta interbank market on Tuesday morning along with declining US bond yields.

The rupiah rose 22 points, or 0.16 percent, to open at Rp13,690 per US dollar at 10:08 a.m. local time than the earlier close of Rp13,712 per US dollar.

Monex Investindo Futures Chief Researcher Ariston Tjendra stated in Jakarta on Tuesday that the fear of the coronavirus outbreak continued to cast a shadow on the money market, especially after a spike in the number of people infected with and dying of coronavirus.

"However, on the other hand, yields on the US government bonds that tumbled again to under 1.6 percent held the rupiah's weakening and may boost the currency’s strengthening against the US dollar," he stated.

In the meantime, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) reportedly injected another 100 billion yuan, or nearly US$14.3 billion, worth of funds into the market.

"This may offer a positive sentiment to the risk asset market, including the rupiah," he stated.

He has forecast the rupiah to trade in the range of Rp13,670 to Rp13,720 per US dollar on Tuesday.

According to the Bank Indonesia, the central bank mid-rate on Tuesday, the rupiah appreciated to Rp13,685 per US dollar on Tuesday in comparison with Rp13,708 per US dollar the day before. (ANTARA)