Day: May 17, 2022

Visits to tourism villages surged nationwide during this year’s Eid al-Fitr holiday period, according to Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno.

He said that his ministry was tasked by Coordinating Minister of Human Development and Cultural Affairs Muhadjir Effendy to assist with homecoming travel arrangements during the Eid period.

“We then offered a travel pattern that included tourism destinations to travelers, and travelers indicated their preference to visit tourism villages located along their homecoming route,” the minister informed during the ministry’s weekly press briefing, accessed by virtual means here on Tuesday.

The minister pointed out that the occupancy rate at homestays in tourism villages located near the Borobudur Temple site in Magelang, Central Java, increased by 100 percent.

Other tourism villages in Central Java also saw a similar surge, he said. While the Tegalmulyo tourism village in Klaten district recorded five thousand tourists, at least 1,700 tourists visited the Cikakak tourism village in Banyumas District, 1,357 tourists visited the Pentingsari tourism village in Sleman district, and 400 travelers came to the Kalibiru tourism village in Kulonprogo, Uno noted.

Other tourism villages, such as Pentagen Village in Kerinci District, Jambi, and Kerapu Village in Situbondo District, East Java, recorded 6,320 and 100 tourists during the Eid holiday period, respectively, he added.

“We are now waiting for reports from (Central Java’s) Sangiran tourism village in Sragen District and Sumberwuluh Tourism Village in Karanganyar District,” Uno informed.

He also expressed pride that the top 50 tourism villages featured in the 2021 Indonesia Tourism Villages Award (ADWI) were promoted on social media and national television, driving the tourism surge.

Given the increasing visits, the minister said he is confident that tourism villages will become credible alternative destinations for travelers as long as tourism village operators continue working to improve their villages.

“I also want to remind tourism village operators to enforce the health protocols. They must also work for CHSE (Clean, Health, Safety, and Environmental Sustainability) certification and sustainable tourism village certification, as well as win the Indonesia Tourism Village Award and implement waste management programs,” Uno added.

Source: Antara News

House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Puan Maharani has urged the government to take into account the public’s financial condition before raising fuel oil prices and electricity tariffs.

“The government needs to take seriously the (financial) condition of the community before applying a policy to raise pertalite gasoline, diesel oil, and liquefied petroleum gas prices as well as electricity tariffs in response to a surge in the global crude oil and gas prices,” Maharani noted in a written statement received in Jakarta on Tuesday.

According to public policy observer Trubus Rahadiansyah, the house speaker’s request is on the right track.

“What Mrs Puan expects is right. Before implementing a policy, the government must look at the reality, so that the policy will not appear to be elitist,” Rahadiansyah stated.

He highlighted the current gap between expectation and reality in the public.

The public is hoping to be able to afford various basic necessities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, while on the other hand, the government has issued various policies that adversely affect the interests of people from the low and middle income groups, he remarked.

According to Rahadiansyah, all policies related to the interests of the people at large must be heedful of the inner mood of the people and the reality in the community.

To that end, he recommended several steps to prevent a fuel price hike policy from creating a public upheaval.

Firstly, the government should be able to educate the public regarding the fuel price hike policy, right from the foundation of the policy, the current national and global conditions, and to the impact of the policy.

Secondly, the government must pay attention to the needs of affected people through a strong social safety net.

The social safety net may be in the form of stimulus or relief package to encourage the people to become more productive, especially those engaged in micro, small, and medium businesses.

Source: Antara News

The G20 must empower micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to realize healthy, inclusive, and sustainable economic development, researcher with T20’s Task Force 2 at Argentina’s Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Gabriela Rigoni, said.

“MSMEs are the economic backbones of the society. So, the G20 must empower MSMEs to reach healthy, inclusive, and sustainable development,” Rigoni remarked at a webinar on ‘Harnessing Digital Technologies to Accelerate SMEs, Startups, and Creative Industry,’ which was accessed from here on Tuesday.

MSMEs contribute 44 percent to Argentina’s GDP (gross domestic product) and 50 percent of jobs depend on them, she informed.

“So, we are not different from Indonesia. We need to think about how we can help them locally and globally with T20 policies,” she said.

All MSMEs together are the biggest employers of any local economy worldwide, she added.

“It is not only Asia, it is not only Argentina, (but) it is (true for) everywhere in the world,” she said.

However, MSMEs are facing several challenges, so it is necessary to promote development and growth, which would entail addressing barriers that usually add to the difficulties of the context in which MSMEs are immersed, she added.

MSMEs are in need of more policies to script a global recovery from COVID-19, she highlighted.

“This has already been considered by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), IMF (International Monetary Fund), and I hope (it will) also (be) considered by the G20,” she said.

The digital economy could boost MSME development and promote entrepreneurship, help community projects create value, reach consumer groups, and achieve true local development, according to Rigoni.

Meanwhile, the limitations of MSMEs include barriers relating to distance and borders, access to marketing tools, deficit of knowledge and awareness of chances and new business opportunities, poor ability to change, and competitive disadvantages, she explained.

“MSMEs do not have the same (level of) access, so digital economy platforms are the ideal solution,” she said.

Digitalization can help MSMEs access a broader market, integrate with global markets, integrate with global value chains, become competitors in niche markets, and reduce size advantages in international trade, she pointed out.

To this end, the G20 should provide tools to address competition issues in the digital economy, she stressed.

In addition, the policies could include the digital space quota and fair-trade initiatives in the digital realm.

“MSMEs’ survival should not be dictated by an algorithm,” she remarked.

Source: Antara News

Head of the Hajj Fund Management Agency (BPKH) Anggito Abimanyu confirmed that his agency is ready to send the 2022 Hajj fund of Rp7.5 trillion to the Government of Saudi Arabia.

“The amount is prepared by the BPKH in accordance with the government’s policy that has been approved by the House of Representatives (DPR),” Abimanyu noted in his statement broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel on Tuesday.

Abimanyu conveyed the statement after attending a limited cabinet meeting held to discuss preparations for the 2022 Hajj pilgrimage led by President Joko Widodo at the Presidential Palace, Bogor, West Java, on Tuesday.

According to the BPKH head, some Rp81.7 million is required per pilgrim for the implementation of the Hajj pilgrimage. However, each pilgrim is only required to pay around Rp39.9 million, and the government subsidizes the rest of the cost.

“We previously conveyed through the Minister of Religious Affairs at today’s meeting that all financing was ready in the form of Saudi Riyal, in the form of Rupiah, as well as for living costs in the form of banknotes,” he expounded.

On the same occasion, Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas stressed that the BPKH head’s explanation has clarified that the rumors of funds collected for Hajj purposes are being used by the government for various needs, including for the development of the new capital Nusantara, are hoaxes.

“It is totally untrue. In fact, through the BPKH, the government provides subsidies for the pilgrims, so that they do not have to pay a high cost,” the minister explained.

For the implementation of the 2022 Hajj pilgrimage, Indonesia received a pilgrim quota of 100,051 people.

Although the quota is only half of the allocation received by the country earlier before the pandemic hit, Qoumas expressed gratitude that Indonesia could send its pilgrims again after the two-year ban due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Antara News

Yogyakarta’s traditional foods and beverages, with a hint of modern flavour, were served to delegates of the second G20 Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) meeting in Yogyakarta.

Dishes served to the delegates were mochi-like snack yangko, bean-filled baked pastry bakpia, coconut and sugar snack geplak, and chocolate praline combined with traditional herbal drink mix.

“Those foods are only available in Yogyakarta,” Adventa Pramushanti, Public Relations Manager of Hotel Tentrem that is hosting the G20 DEWG meeting, said, as quoted from the Ministry of Communications and Informatics’ press statement on Tuesday.

Pramushanti noted that the dishes served with intricate colour combinations are aimed at drawing the delegates’ interest to sample the food.

Some dishes have been prepared by combining traditional recipes with innovative and modern flavours, the manager revealed while pointing out that the chocolate praline served to the delegates had been made with staple traditional herbal drink concoctions of turmeric tamarind juice and kaempferia galanga-rice mix.

“Other dishes that we serve are chocolate shaped as (traditional musical instrument) gamelan and combined with Yogyakarta’s traditional food,” Pramushanti noted.

She expressed optimism that by offering a glimpse of Yogyakarta’s sumptuous traditional foods during the G20 DEWG meeting, traditional foods would be promoted further on a global scale.

“Our goal is to introduce Yogyakarta’s traditional dishes to the global community,” the manager stated.

Pramushanti also expected a positive response from delegates of the G20 DEWG meeting and hoped that they would praise the food and cultural diversity of Indonesia.

“All delegates have positively responded to (the traditional foods we served),” she remarked.

The second meeting of the G20 DEWG forum is being held in a hybrid format in Yogyakarta on May 17-19, 2022.

The meeting was attended by delegates from the United States, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the European Union.

Meanwhile, delegates from Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa, and Russia attended the meeting virtually.

Source: Antara News

The Industry Ministry has urged industries to help reduce carbon emissions and promote a balance between manufacturing sector growth and environmental sustainability.

Amid the positive growth of 3.67 percent in the non-oil and gas industry sector and an increase in labor absorption by 1.2 million, the ministry is also continuing to encourage the national industry to transform into a green industry.

“Through these transformation efforts, we expect the manufacturing sector to contribute to reducing carbon emissions and transitioning green energy to carbon neutral and a green economy in Indonesia,” Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said in a statement received here on Tuesday.

Green industry development efforts can be carried out through two strategies: greening the existing industry and creating new industries based on the principles of green industry (that is, developing a new green industry), he explained.

To accelerate the implementation of a competitive green industry, the ministry has devised priority programs that seek to increase production and resource efficiency, and develop environmentally friendly raw materials (green materials) and green products.

Furthermore, the implementation of green industry is also being encouraged through a push for energy efficiency and the use of clean energy as well as new and renewable energy (NRE); reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and waste; efficiency and water security in the industrial sector; implementation of circular economy and the 4Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover); as well as increasing and expanding green jobs.

“We hope that the priority programs that have been carried out can continue to improve the competitiveness of the industrial sector without compromising the environment and ensuring public health,” Kartasasmita said.

Meanwhile, head of the Standardization and Industrial Services Policy Agency (BSKJI) of the Ministry of Industry, Doddy Rahadi, said that in order to create an environmentally friendly industry, BSKJI has compiled nine key initiatives under the green industry policy.

The nine initiatives include the preparation of green industry standards and certifications (SIH), the green industry award (PIH), and the greenhouse gas reduction and low carbon development (PRK) program.

They also cover accelerating energy, water, and NRE efficiency; proposing fiscal and non-fiscal facilitation; implementing a circular economy; developing green industrial areas; developing green small and medium enterprises (SMEs); and building new and green industrial services.

“Throughout 2021, there were 152 industrial companies participating in the green industry program, with energy savings equivalent to Rp3.2 trillion and water savings equivalent to Rp169 billion,” Rahadi informed.

He said that the ministry has also continued to encourage fiscal and non-fiscal facilitation programs and policies in the business world that are committed to supporting the sustainable strengthening of the green industry.

“It can be a catalyst for accelerating the growth of the green industry towards an inclusive and sustainable green economy and increasing the competitiveness of national industries globally,” he added.

Source: Antara News

Indonesia’s crude palm oil (CPO) exports fell 2.56 percent by value to US$2.99 billion and 10.49 percent by volume to 1.93 million tons in April 2022 from a month earlier, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS).

“The CPO exports fell in terms of value and volume in April. However, (regardless of) whether (the decline) is related to the export ban, to be clear, the CPO exports declined in April,” BPS Chief Margo Yuwono noted in a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

If the export ban is not lifted, then CPO exports will drop in the ensuing months and will eventually have an impact on Indonesia’s exports, he cautioned.

“Surely, if it is not lifted, it will affect our exports, though for knowing what is its impact on our balance of trade, let us look at it in the ensuing months,” he remarked.

The government decided on April 28, 2022, to ban the export of CPO, refined, bleached, and deodorized palm oil (RBD palm oil), refined, bleached and deodorized palm olein (RBD palm olein), and used cooking oil (UCO) until the domestic price of bulk cooking oil is stable at around Rp14 thousand per liter.

The export ban was laid down in Trade Minister’s Regulation No. 22 of 2022 concerning a temporary ban on the export of CPO, RBD palm oil, RBD palm olein, and UCO.

Source: Antara News