Day: August 11, 2022

The realization of budget fund for the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Program (PC-PEN) has, as of August 5, 2022, reached Rp168.3 trillion, or 36.9 percent of the ceiling of Rp455.62 trillion for this year.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati conveyed the information at the KiTA state budget press conference, Jakarta, on Thursday.

“Because the economic recovery has been going on and the handling of COVID-19 is getting better, we see that the realization of PC-PEN is also on hold,” she said.

The realization includes healthcare  spending of Rp32.3 trillion, or 26.3 percent of the Rp122.54 trillion ceiling, which was used for the payment of patient claims (Rp20.9 trillion) and incentives to health workers (Rp2.2 trillion).

Then, Rp 1.2 trillion went toward health tax incentives and Rp 5.6 trillion toward regional budget (APBD) support, including Village Funds, for handling COVID-19, Indrawati said.

The PC-PEN realization includes community protection of Rp77.8 trillion, or 50.2 of the ceiling of Rp154.76 trillion, the minister informed.

Furthermore, direct cash assistance (BLT) of Rp7.2 trillion for cooking oil purchases was provided to 21.8 million recipients, Rp8.1 trillion was distributed to 2.3 million participants of the Pre-Employment Card program, Village BLTs of Rp16.1 trillion were disbursed to 7.6 million families, and cash assistance of Rp1.3 trillion for street vendors, stalls, and fishermen (BT-PKLWN) was distributed by police to 683 thousand recipients and the military to 1.4 million recipients.

“This is quite good, it means that we have paid or given to the community or social support in the middle of the year,” she said.

The PC-PEN realization also includes disbursals of Rp58.3 trillion, or 32.7 percent of the ceiling of Rp178.32 trillion ceiling, under economic recovery programs, including labor-intensive programs (Rp10.3 trillion), tourism and creative economy programs (Rp2.7 trillion), and the food security program (Rp7.8 trillion), the minister said.

It also includes spending on information and communication technology (Rp5.3 trillion), industrial areas (Rp0.8 trillion), MSME support in the form of interest subsidies and guarantee fees (IJP) (Rp14.9 trillion), tax incentives (Rp9.9 trillion), and infrastructure and connectivity (Rp6.7 trillion), she added.

 

 

Source: Antara News

Studies have shown that empowering women can increase the capacity of the economy by around 20–25 percent, Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI), Juda Agung, has said.

Thus, women’s empowerment can accelerate the economic growth of a country.

“Not only in economic growth, but women’s empowerment is also a multiplier factor in reducing poverty, increasing food security, nutritional improvement, and improving the governance of a country,” he said at the 1st International Conference on Women & Sharia Community Empowerment, which was followed online from here on Thursday.

Women have a dominant role in the micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) sector, he noted. Of the 65.5 million MSMEs in Indonesia, around 65 percent are owned by women. The majority of the women-owned MSMEs are running food and clothing businesses.

Various surveys have also reported that women-owned MSMEs have shown more resilience than MSMEs owned by men during the pandemic. For example, the number of women-owned MSMEs that closed their business during the pandemic has been lower compared to men-owned MSMEs.

Nevertheless, he said that women-owned MSMEs are still facing many challenges and hindrances in terms of capacity, production, institutions, supporting ecosystem, as well as financing or capital.

For example, in the production aspect, MSMEs still face hindrances in terms of the standardization of quality and continuity of production. Meanwhile, to encourage MSMEs to scale up, the aspects of quality and continuity need to be considered. Then, in the financing aspect, only 22 percent of MSMEs have access to financing sources, including banking.

“Therefore, this is one of the factors where policy intervention, both from BI and from various relevant ministries such as the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs as well as the Ministry of Finance, is highly crucial,” he remarked.

 

Source: Antara News

Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) must exploit the potential of the digital economy more optimally, Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Teten Masduki, has said.

“President Joko Widodo once said, ‘No one should be left behind in the digital economy,’ considering the potential of digital economic growth (is projected) to reach Rp4,531 trillion in 2030, or grow eight times from 2020. It is important for business players to take advantage of this in order to continue to grow and develop,” he said virtually at an event held by Tokopedia ahead of the commemoration of National MSME Day here on Thursday.

Synergy between stakeholders is vital for accelerating digital infrastructure development, Masduki added.

According to e-Conomy Southeast Asia (SEA) data for 2021 compiled by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, 72 percent of all digital economy users in the country come from non-metro or sub-urban areas.

“Other data from Alpha JWC Ventures and Kearney in 2021 projected that the digital economy in tier two and three cities will grow significantly, growing fivefold in the next five years,” he pointed out.

The minister noted that over the past three years, MSMEs have faced several challenges on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has also made the government realize the urgent need for MSMEs to optimize the use of the digital ecosystem not only to survive, but also to recover and become stronger and become one of the pillars of the national economy.

This has become the basis for President Joko Widodo’s target of bringing 30 million MSMEs into the digital ecosystem by 2024.

“With more than 12 million MSME merchants, Tokopedia is a part of the digital transformation of MSMEs. I express my highest appreciation to Tokopedia, which has always been the government’s partner in accelerating the digital transformation of MSMEs in the country,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tokopedia’s vice president of marketplace, Yudhiaji Kusuma, said that Tokopedia and the government have carried out many synergies to increase the competitiveness of local MSMEs.

For example, Tokopedia has synergized with the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for the formal transformation of micro-enterprises through the dissemination of information and provision of guidance on the registration of business identification numbers (NIB) through the Online Single Submission (OSS) system.

 

Source: Antara News

Expediting stunting reduction measures is the government’s priority program to develop national human resources, Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD affirmed.

“The vision of Golden Indonesia 2045 can be achieved if Indonesia’s human resources excel in global competition. The 2045 vision is official, as it is regulated in two regulations enacted in 2010 and 2016. In 2045, Indonesia will achieve the status of an advanced country,” Mahfud stated during the Family, Population, and Family Planning Programme and Stunting Reduction Acceleration Study Meeting here, Thursday.

He said the current national stunting prevalence rate is still at 24.4 percent, which is above the threshold set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) also designated the acceleration of stunting reduction efforts as a priority programme that should be implemented thoroughly till the lowest strata of society, the coordinating minister noted.

Mahfud said that Indonesia is expected to become an advanced country by 2045 and become one of the major global economies.

To achieve the goal of an advanced country, Indonesia’s human resources must not be physically weak due to stunting.

“If we do not address this issue properly, Indonesia could not become an advanced country,” Mahfud cautioned.

Through Presidential Regulation No. 72 of 2021 on the stunting prevention regulation, the coordinating minister expressed optimism that the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) would adhere to the coordination, harmonization, and cross-sector integration measures to achieve the national target.

He also instructed government ministries and institutions to reiterate the joint commitment to reduce stunting prevalence by three percent annually to reduce the rate of stunting to 14 percent by 2024.

“To ensure the programme has a positive impact and accountable budget use, ‘money follows function’ approach must no longer be employed, and the current approach should be ‘money follows programme’ and the programme must follow impact or result,” Mahfud emphasized.

 

Source: Antara News