Day: March 10, 2022

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto affirmed that increasing synergy among ministries can facilitate sustainable economic growth.

“I am optimistic that policies in the trade sector would continue to be improved and run well and synergize with other ministries. We want to encourage sustainable economic growth,” Hartarto noted in a statement, Thursday.

The minister pressed for strong coordination in responding to various economic challenges in 2022. Prompt response from all parties is deemed crucial to maintain the momentum of national economic recovery.

Hartarto affirmed that the trade sector showed strong resilience in 2020 and 2021. To this end, the government will continue to push the trade balance to maintain a consistent surplus as had occurred for 21 consecutive months since May 2020. All export components per sector experienced an increase in January 2022, with a total surge of 25.3 percent (yoy).

“In terms of exports in January 2022, we see an increase as compared to January last year. This situation certainly shows that the composition of our exports has begun to shift from primary commodity-based commodities to industrial-based commodities,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the imports of capital goods and raw materials have increased at a higher rate than those of consumer goods. Commodities of machinery and mechanical equipment and their parts will become the main imported commodities in January 2022. This indicates that the need for production factors continues to rise due to increased production activities in line with changes in mobility that trigger increased demand.

“The government has decided to continue to encourage national economic recovery in 2022 at 5.2 percent while still paying attention to risks, both global and domestic,” he remarked.

The National Economic Recovery Program (PEN) is also continuing to focus on providing direct support to the community through job creation and social protection. At the same time, the PEN Program will also stimulate the performance of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Cooperatives through business incentives and financial support.

In addition, the 2022 smallholder business credit (KUR) ceiling has risen by up 30 percent as compared to last year. The interest is also subsidized by three percent until the end of the year, Hartarto noted.

“This is an opportunity to stimulate the economy of MSMEs, which based on data, are mostly engaged in the trade sector,” he added.

Regarding the month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, the government also continues to maintain food price stability. The government is committed to maintaining volatile food inflation in the 3-5 percent (yoy) range.

“Various strategies, optimization, and also digitalization from upstream to downstream are very important. This is especially to strengthen inter-regional cooperation,” he said.

Source: Antara News

Indonesia’s Presidency in the G20 will initiate the formulation of monitoring tools as part of the efforts to create an inclusive job market, Secretary-General of the Manpower Ministry Anwar Sanusi stated on Thursday.

Sanusi noted at the first meeting of the G20 Employment Working Group (EWG) that the Indonesian Presidency had drawn praises and support from member countries, related groups, international and regional organizations on the inclusive labor market issues and decent work for people with disabilities.

“The Indonesian presidency encourages monitoring tools required to monitor the development of labor market inclusiveness for the disabled workforce to be applied to the G20 community,” he noted in a press statement in Jakarta.

The instrument initiated by Indonesia’s presidency is expected to become a supporting instrument in the framework of formulating a concrete and implementable G20 action plan to accelerate the principles to integrate people with disabilities into the labor market, which was agreed upon in 2018 in Argentina.

Through this endeavor, Indonesia is optimistic of disabled people receiving attention and unbiased treatment in the labor market, including for social security protection for them, Sanusi emphasized.

He explained that Indonesia, as the host of the 2022 G20, is keen to ensure that no one is left behind in various development programs.

“This condition is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDG’s) agenda to ensure that not even one group of people was left behind in obtaining employment opportunities and decent work, so that productivity could continue to increase,” he affirmed.

G20 is a group of countries that represent at least 85 percent of the world economy, 79 percent of global trade, 80 percent of global investment, and about 65 percent of the world’s population.

For the first time, Indonesia is holding the 2022 G20 Presidency from December 1, 2021, to November 2022 and will lead the G20 member countries — Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States — in a series of working group meetings and events.

Source: Antara News

More than 5.4 million taxpayers submitted their annual tax return (SPT) forms for 2021 to the Directorate General of Taxation from January 1 to March 10, 2022, an official said.

“Most of the taxpayers are individual taxpayers, and the remaining 135 thousand are corporate taxpayers,” Director General of Taxation Suryo Utomo said while providing information on the harmonized tax law in Central Java during an awareness-building event, which was accessed online from Jakarta on Thursday.

The Directorate General of Taxation has set March 31 as the deadline for individual taxpayers and April 30 as the deadline for corporate taxpayers for filing SPT forms.

Utomo expressed the hope that individual and corporate taxpayers will file SPT forms as soon as possible as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown signs of abating.

As the pandemic has begun to ease, individual and corporate taxpayers can now resume their activities and earn an income, he said. They are obliged to pay taxes after receiving various incentives during the pandemic, he added.

President Joko Widodo, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, and state officials have submitted their SPT forms for 2021, he informed. Hopefully, their rank and file will follow suit soon, he said.

Taxation is the backbone of sustainable state financing so all parties are expected to participate in financing development, he added.

Source: Antara News

The momentum of Indonesia’s G20 Presidency should be used to attract the youth to the agriculture sector to achieve national farmer regeneration, the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS) has said.

The G20 Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting should be utilized to gather information related to best agricultural practices of G20 countries so that they can be applied in Indonesia, CIPS researcher Azizah Fauzi said during a discussion on ‘Indonesian Youth for the Country’s Agriculture,’ accessed online here on Thursday.

“In my opinion, this (the ministerial meeting) can be used by governments or agriculture ministers of various countries involved to share best practices in agriculture. It can also be used as a means of sharing the latest information about technology that can attract young people to take part in the agricultural sector,” she remarked.

According to Fauzi, summarized information from the meeting could be distributed to the public so that young people can easily access it and enrich their knowledge of agriculture.

It is hoped that this would change their perception of agriculture as there is actually a lot of potential that can be tapped in the sector, she said.

Based on data from a 2018 survey, the majority of farmers in Indonesia are aged over 45 years, she noted. In fact, only about 10 percent of farmers are under 30 years old, she highlighted.

One way to attract young people to the agricultural sector is the use of modern agricultural technology, she said.

For this, it is important to introduce Indonesian youth to the latest agricultural technology from G20 countries to boost their interest in farming, she added.

She said that Indonesia produces various kinds of agricultural commodities, but its farming potential has not been maximized, and the country has not achieved food security yet.

Regeneration of farmers is one of the ways for Indonesia to achieve national food security, she added.

Source: Antara News

Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno has asked West Kalimantan to develop and register 128 tourism villages on his ministry’s Tourism Village Network (Jadesta).

“We encourage the West Kalimantan Tourism Office to continue to develop tourism villages in West Kalimantan. West Kalimantan is targeted to have 128 tourism villages to be registered in the Tourism Village Network (Jadesta). This is a symbol of economic revival, business and employment opportunities, a symbol of new economic strength that we are currently preparing with President Joko Widodo, namely the marine tourism village,” he remarked here on Thursday.

Uno said that to support the development of tourism villages in each region, his ministry will collaborate with several ministries and agencies.

He also lauded the development of ecotourism in West Kalimantan, specifically the development of mangrove tourism in Sungai Kupah Tourism Village, Kubu Raya district.

According to the minister, mangrove tourism is in line with the new trends in tourism, namely quality and sustainable tourism. Thus, it will maximize opportunities for economic revival and job creation, he said.

Currently, many global organizations are focused on mangrove planting to support ecosystems and environmental sustainability, he noted.

“Therefore, we encourage every tourism village to develop an environmentally sustainable ecosystem so that it will have a significant impact on environmental sustainability and improve the community’s economy,” he added.

Meanwhile, head of the Youth, Sports, and Tourism Office of West Kalimantan, Windy Prihastari, informed that so far, 30 tourism villages in the province have registered with the ministry’s Jadesta.

“The minister asked us to encourage other tourism villages to register. West Kalimantan was targeted to at least have 60 registered tourism villages. Then, during the visit in Sungai Kupah, the number of (registered) tourism villages in West Kalimantan is targeted to be 128 by the Ministry of Tourism,” she expounded.

Source: Antara News

Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno has said that 2022 will be the year for the recovery of the tourism and employment sectors from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need to ensure that 2022 is the year of recovery, and we need to open more job opportunities,” he said at the ‘Deep Dive Into Safe COVID-19 Tourism’ virtual press conference, accessed from here on Thursday.

Uno said the government, together with all related parties, needed to ensure that the business sector will continue to run through a series of recovery efforts.

According to the minister, during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a shift in tourists’ preference from mass tourist destinations concentrated in one large area to open space and smaller tourist destinations, such as tourism villages.

“Tourism villages have experienced a 30 percent increase in visitors in 2021,” he revealed.

He then said that his ministry has adjusted to the situation by encouraging healthier lifestyle habits for the local community, training on health protocols, utilizing the PeduliLindungi application, and ensuring environmental cleanliness and food materials that meet health quality standards.

The minister expressed optimism that 2022 will be the year for Indonesia to win against the pandemic.

“And if we can collaborate, a new economy will be formed in tourism villages, which will be our driving force to create more opportunities and recover the number of jobs lost during the pandemic,” he added.

Meanwhile, speaking at the same conference, spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, said that tourism villages are part of the government’s pandemic control program.

The program includes easing restrictions on foreign tourist arrivals, including scrapping quarantine for foreign tourists visiting Batam, Bintan, and Bali, he added.

According to Adisasmito, the step was taken as part of the government’s pandemic recovery efforts while still implementing strict health protocols.

Source: Antara News