VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Deputy of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of National Development Planning/National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti presenting her remarks at the 2023 Indonesia Economic Report launch event in Jakarta, Wednesday (January 31, 2024). ANTARA/Martha Herlinawati Simanjuntak/nbl - 

Voinews, Jakarta - The Ministry of National Development Planning/National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) projected that Indonesia's economy in 2024 would grow better than in 2023 despite the trend of slowdown in the global economy.

"Several international agencies have stated that Indonesia's economy, amidst the ongoing global economic slowdown, is projected to grow stronger than in 2023," the ministry's Deputy of Economic Affairs, Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, stated during the 2023 Indonesia Economic Report's launch agenda here, Wednesday (January 31).

The Indonesian government targets the national economy in 2024 to grow by 5.3 percent, higher than the 2023 economic growth projection set at 5.1 percent.

She affirmed that Indonesia has a solid foundation to develop a stronger economy in 2024 despite uncertainty looming over the global economy and its divergence that is expected to continue in the upcoming years.

The official pointed out that the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) also forecast Indonesia's economy in 2024 to grow better than last year.

"This is a positive sign that the global community believed that Indonesia can recover and maintain its economic growth in the five-percent range, returning to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic growth level," Amalia noted.

Meanwhile, Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI) Perry Warjiyo highlighted the need to remain vigilant while being optimistic in 2024 as well as to enhance synergy between economic policies and efforts to strengthen national economic resilience in 2024.

The central bank projected Indonesia's economy in 2024 to grow by 4.7 to 5.5 percent, provided that internal and external economic stability are preserved.

Warjiyo is also optimistic that inflation would be manageable to the expected target of 2.5 percent, give or take one percent; banking credit would grow by 10-12 percent; and the exchange rate of the rupiah would improve in 2024//ANT-VOI

FILE PHOTO: An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich, Switzerland December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo - 

LONDON : Technology giant Google has signed its largest ever power purchase agreement (PPA) with offshore wind projects off the coast of the Netherlands as part of efforts to green its power supply and hit climate targets, it said on Thursday.

Renewable power project developers are increasingly tying their electricity output to long-term PPAs to provide revenue security, while corporate buyers are keen to lock in supply and ensure they meet targets for sourcing clean power.

Under its largest offshore wind PPA to date, Google has agreed to take 478 megawatts (MW) of power from two new wind farms developed by Crosswind & Ecowende Consortia, joint ventures between energy companies Shell and Dutch utility Eneco.

It also announced smaller renewable PPAs in Italy, Poland and Belgium but did not disclose any financial details of the deals.

"Our ambition to operate on carbon-free energy around the clock by 2030 requires clean energy solutions in every grid where we operate," said Matt Brittin, President of Google in EMEA

Many companies with similar goals currently work on an annual basis, matching PPAs or purchases of renewable energy certificates with their yearly electricity use.

Google, however, is seeking to match each hour of electricity used with an hour of clean power production, something proponents of the method say better reflects companies' actual energy use//CNA-VOI

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Voinews, Jakarta - Indonesia's inflation rate eased to 2.57 per cent in January, roughly in line with market forecasts and near the midpoint of the central bank's target range, data from the statistics bureau showed on Thursday.

Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected a January annual rate of 2.55 per cent, cooling from December's 2.61 per cent.

Bank Indonesia (BI) targets inflation within a range of 1.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent this year.

The core inflation rate, which strips out government-controlled prices and volatile food prices, also cooled to 1.68 per cent in January, from 1.80 per cent in the previous month. The poll had expected a rate of 1.76 per cent.

The statistics bureau said it has changed the base year for its calculation of the consumer price index to 2022, compared with its previous base year of 2018.

Inflation in Southeast Asia's largest economy has stayed within the central bank's target range since the middle of 2023, helped by BI's interest rate hiking cycle of 250 basis points between August 2022 and October 2023.

Despite the low headline figure, food prices have risen in the country amid supply disruptions due to drier than usual weather.

Volatile food inflation accelerated to 7.22 per cent in January, from December's 6.73 per cent, reflecting rising prices of rice, garlic, tomato, chili and chicken.

BI Governor Perry Warjiyo has said he saw room for the central bank to begin cutting interest rates in the second half of 2024, though other officials have also noted upside risks to BI's inflation forecast due to pressure on food prices//CNA-VOI

FILE PHOTO: AI Artificial intelligence words, miniature of robot and EU flag are seen in this illustration taken December 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo - 

STOCKHOLM : More than a third of European businesses adopted artificial intelligence in 2023 as use of generative AI surged, a report commissioned by Amazon Web Services found.

The European Commission, the EU executive, in 2021 presented its 2030 Digital Decade vision to transform the region, with 80 per cent of the population acquiring basic digital skills, 5G connectivity everywhere and 75 per cent of EU companies using cloud services.

In 2022, however, only a quarter of EU businesses had adopted AI and a report last year estimated the European Union was at risk of falling behind its Digital Decade goals by ten years unless the governments focused on bridging the skills gap.

"Last year was pivotal; from Malmo to Milan, the accessibility of generative AI created an appetite for experimentation among consumers and businesses," Tanuja Randery, Managing Director at AWS, told Reuters.

"The accelerated uptake of AI last year has helped put Europe on track to meet its Digital Decade goals," she said.

The survey conducted by Strand Partners of over 16,000 citizens and 14,000 businesses found 38 per cent of companies were experimenting with AI.

The report estimated the positive economic impact of AI at an additional 600 billion euros, on top of an earlier estimate of 2.8 trillion euros//CNA-VOI