Day: July 7, 2021

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Southeast Asia’s leading on-demand company, Gojek shifts its focus to Vietnam and Singapore as the centers of its international business growth. The company will increase investments in Vietnam and Singapore, especially in its efforts to increase the number of driver and merchant partners, improve user experience and launch new products and services.

In Vietnam, Gojek will soon launch a four-wheeled transportation service to complement the two-wheeled, logistics and food delivery services that are already available. In Singapore, Gojek has recently launched GoTaxi or a taxi ordering service through its app.

Meanwhile, for the Thailand market, Gojek collaborates with airasia digital, which is a digital business line under the leading AirAsia airline. airasia digital, which is currently expanding its super app service in Southeast Asia, will take over the operations of Gojek Thailand. As part of this mutually beneficial agreement, Gojek will receive shareholding interest in the airasia super app, which has a market value of around USD1 billion. With this, Gojek will remain a stakeholder in Thailand’s business success through ownership in the airasia super app.

In a joint press release, Gojek CEO, Kevin Aluwi, said, “airasia Digital and the airasia Super App will become a highly valued partner for us as we share the same goal to provide users with better services, while enhancing the livelihoods of drivers and merchants. At the same time, the deal will enable us to pivot our focus in international markets towards Vietnam and Singapore – markets providing us with the best return on investment and strategic growth opportunities.”

According to Kevin, the deal is a testament to the accomplishments of our team in Thailand, who grew the business from nothing to an on-demand service provider that has made a difference to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country.

“The business was built on a huge amount of talent and passion and we will of course, work closely with our Thai employees as well as airasia through this transition. We are proud of and are deeply grateful for everything Gojek Thailand has achieved, as well as for our loyal Thai consumers and driver and merchant partners, who have always been at the heart of what we do.”

Meanwhile, airasia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said today’s announcement is the start of a tremendous long term strategic partnership with Gojek which is sure to rock the industry.

“We already have a complete digital economy ecosystem. We have successfully established over 15 different non airline products and lifestyle services on our digital e-commerce platform in Malaysia. Now it’s time to take it to the next level. In response to overwhelming regional demand, we are setting our sights on bringing our Super App offerings to all of our key markets, following the successful roll out in Thailand,” added Tony.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has forecast the national economic growth in 2021 to lie within the range of 3.7-4.5 percent on account of emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM) enforced in Java and Bali.

“The overall growth for 2021 will lie in the range of 3.7 to 4.5 percent, as the first-quarter growth was recorded at minus 0.7 percent,” Indrawati remarked during a webinar on the mid-year economic outlook here on Wednesday.

The government’s earlier growth projection lay in the range of 4.5 to 5.3 percent before the emergency PPKM was imposed due to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases.

The economic growth projection is influenced by the emergency PPKM scenario, the minister stated.

In the event of a moderate scenario in the country wherein the spread of COVID-19 is estimated to peak in the second week of July, the PPKM relaxation in the first week of August, and gradual recovery of economic activities in mid-August, then economic growth for 2021is projected to reach 4.5 percent, Indrawati noted.

Taking into account the moderate scenario, the growth forecast is pegged at 5.4 percent for the third quarter and 5.9 percent for the fourth quarter, according to the minister. “Hence, we are optimistic of the growth being above five percent in the third quarter and further increasing in the fourth quarter,” Indrawati stated.

However, if emergency PPKM is enforced in case of a serious scenario wherein public mobility plunges by up to 50 percent, COVID-19 transmission peaks until the second week of July, daily rise in COVID-19 cases is higher, PPKM is relaxed in the third week of August, and the economic activities begin to recover gradually in September 2021, then the economic growth for 2021 is projected at 3.7 percent, the minister stated.

“If it (emergency PPKM) is to last until August and normalcy is to return until September, then the growth will be 4.6 percent for the third quarter,” she noted.

The minister is upbeat about the second quarter growth hovering above seven percent since the emergency PPKM was enforced only in July.

“It seems that we are optimistic that it would reach above seven percent, and we hope that in the third and fourth weeks (of the emergency PPKM), it will remain above seven percent,” she remarked.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – More than 2.81 million people, segregated into six batches, obtained funding assistance under the pre-employment card program during the first semester of 2021, special staff of the Economic Affairs Coordinating Ministry Raden Pardede stated.

Last year, the number of pre-employment card recipients had reached 5.9 million divided into 11 batches, Pardede noted during an online discussion here on Wednesday.

In total, 65.1 million people from 514 districts and cities in 34 provinces had registered for pre-employment cards last year, he remarked.

“During the pandemic, as part of the national economic recovery and social protection programs, the government had transformed the pre-employment card program into semi-social assistance, with 5.9 million recipients in 2020 and 2.8 million recipients in 2021,” he noted. Pardede stated that of the 2.81 million pre-employment card recipients in the first semester, 2.77 million had received training, 2.71 million had completed training, and 2.66 million had obtained incentives.

“In total, Rp5.59 trillion incentives had been distributed,” he remarked.

Under the endeavors to strengthen the fundamentals of micro and small businesses, the government integrated the pre-employment card program with the smallholder business credit (KUR) program.

Through the funding assistance, graduates of the pre-employment card program on completion of training can run productive businesses through integration of the KUR program.

“To develop sustainable productive businesses, we are optimistic that the integration would have a positive impact on the creation of job opportunities,” he affirmed.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia’s foreign exchange reserves rose to US$137.1 billion at the end of June, 2021 from US$136.4 billion at the end of May, 2021, Bank Indonesia (BI) reported.

The position of the foreign exchange reserves is equivalent to financing 9.2 months of imports, or 8.8 months of imports and servicing the government’s foreign debt, head of BI’s communications department, Erwin Haryono, said in a statement issued in Jakarta on Wednesday.

“This position is also above the international adequacy standard of about three months of imports,” he added.

The increase in the foreign exchange reserves position in June, 2021 was influenced, among other things, by the issuance of the government’s global sukuk as well as tax and service revenues, he explained.

“Bank Indonesia considers the foreign exchange reserves to be able to support external sector resilience and maintain macroeconomic and financial system stability,” Haryono said.

Going forward, BI expects foreign exchange reserves to remain adequate and become an important factor in the external resilience of the national economy, he added. (INE)

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia’s digital economy has the potential to expand further, particularly amid the pandemic, which has led people to increasingly rely on technology for activities and transactions, Minister of Trade, Muhammad Lutfi, has said.

“E-commerce, the digital economy, is not a new trend, but will become a major topic of discussion in the midst of international trade. The size of the digital economy will be bigger and more significant in the future,” the minister said while speaking at an online seminar here on Wednesday.

The value of Indonesia’s digital economic transactions reached Rp632 trillion in 2020, he noted.

Indonesia’s digital economy is expected to grow up to eight-fold by 2030, he projected.

“The digital economy will grow eightfold to Rp4,531 trillion. This will be an extraordinary growth,” he remarked.

E-commerce, which is expected to touch Rp1,908 trillion by 2030, is predicted to be the largest contributor to the digital economy, the minister said.

Next will be travel services, which are expected to reach Rp575 trillion, followed by digital media and entertainment platforms at Rp191 trillion, online transportation or ride-hailing services at Rp401 trillion, and digital finance or fintech at Rp224 trillion, he added.

Despite the bright prospects, Indonesia’s digital economy is still at an emerging level and there are still many challenges to creating a comprehensive and efficient digital economy ecosystem in the country, Lutfi noted.

The challenges include the availability of supporting technologies such as 5G connectivity, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing (cloud), and artificial intelligence (AI), he pointed out.

To get the latest technologies, Indonesia needs to build ICT infrastructure on a massive scale, which needs to be supported by government policies, the minister advised.

Besides, Indonesia needs adequate human resources or digital talent, he added.

The Trade Minister said the government is working to develop domestic digital talent by establishing coding schools.

“With a supportive implementation system and policies, I am optimistic that Indonesians can go global and become hosts in their own country. (…) The digital economy is inevitable, and this will eventually string Indonesia together,” he remarked. (INE)

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – PT Indofarma is pursuing the production target of COVID-19 therapeutic drugs — Remdesivir, Oseltamivir, and Ivermectin — to be achieved during the July-September 2021 period in Indonesia.

“The vial form of Remdesivir (Desrem) is still imported. We are producing Oseltamivir 75 mg in capsule form in the country,” PT Indofarma President Director, Arief Pramuhanto, stated during a hearing (RDP) with the House of Representatives’ Commission VI held virtually here on Wednesday.

Remdesivir is still obtained through imports from India, and as many as 140 thousand vials are scheduled to arrive here on Sunday (July 11), he confirmed.

The additional 90 thousand vials will also arrive on Thursday (July 15), he noted.

“Collectively, we will receive 230 thousand vials by this month. One vial is for one inoculation,” he stated.

For the Oseltamivir type, Indofarma will produce approximately five million capsules per month until August and September 2021, Pramuhanto noted.

“We have prepared to produce eight million capsules or about 80 thousand boxes of Oseltamivir,” he stated.

Such medicines have been scheduled to be produced due to the current surge in demand, he informed.

PT Indofarma is also boosting its production capacity of the Ivermectin type of therapeutic drug for COVID-19 patients, doubling from the production in July 2021 of as many as eight million pills.

“During this month, up to eight million pills or approximately 400 thousand vials of Ivermectin will be produced, and next month, we will add some facilities to help double its production,” he remarked.

Source: Antara News