Day: August 24, 2022

The Ministry of Transportation along with the Finance and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP), here on Wednesday, inked a memorandum of understanding on cooperation to bolster financial and development accountability in the ministry’s environment.

Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumiadi underscored the importance of BPKP’s role in providing assistance and monitoring to the ministry over several transportation infrastructure activities and projects.

“To ensure good accountability, I believe that we must be close with the BPKP. In fact, we thank them for their assessment of various works,” he noted while giving his remarks at the event.

The minister expects that in future, the BPKP would provide considerations and suggestions for several projects that the ministry was working on.

One of the goals of assistance by the BPKP is to maximize the potential Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) in the transportation sector.

Synergy with BPKP aims to bolster monitoring in transportation in accordance with the ministry’s mission.

Meanwhile, Head of BPKP Muhammad Yusuf Ateh noted that the agency is ready to assist the ministry in implementing its priority programs, so that they can proceed effectively, efficiently, and in accountable manner.

“We are certainly ready to assist in the efforts to intensify non-state budget creative funding and determine the priority scale for national transportation infrastructure development,” he remarked.

He lauded the ministry that had involved BPKP in the mission to develop connectivity between regions in Indonesia, so it can continue amid the state’s financial and fiscal limitations.

He expects that the coordination with BPKP can have a positive impact, so that the ministry’s accountability and performance report management can be accountable.

“In addition to technical problems, we support the development and improvement of the ministry’s human resources through various (forms of) guidance to bolster capability,” Ateh remarked.

Source: Antara News

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno has said that New Zealand is one of the most strategic markets that can support the growth of Indonesia’s tourism sector.

“If we can exploit this opportunity properly, Indonesia’s tourism and creative economy sectors can recover, and this will encourage the creation of 1.1 million new and quality jobs because the sectors have become the mainstay for some 40 percent of Indonesia’s population,” Uno highlighted during a meeting with the Ambassador of New Zealand to Indonesia, Kevin Burnett, according to a statement received here on Wednesday.

During the meeting, the minister and the ambassador discussed opportunities that the two countries can explore in the tourism and creative economy sectors.

They discussed cooperation opportunities in terms of increasing the flight frequency, strategies for developing quality and environmentally sustainable tourism, sharing of best practices at educational institutions in the two countries, digitization, and marketing strategies to enhance awareness of the tourism sectors of Indonesia and New Zealand, Uno informed.

“We hope we can enhance collaboration to develop the tourism and creative economy aspects in the two countries, as well as to help promote and present quality and sustainable tourism,” the minister said.

He also called for New Zealand’s support for making the Indonesian G20 Presidency a success during the meeting.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Burnett expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to discuss cooperation opportunities in the tourism and creative economy sectors with Uno.

“Our national border has been fully reopened for tourists on July 31, 2022, and we are gradually welcoming again tourists to New Zealand. We hope we can redevelop the tourism and creative economy sectors, (which have been) declining due to the pandemic, with the cooperation that we forged,” Burnett remarked.

According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data, the number of tourists from New Zealand staying in Indonesia for 10–11 days rose by 14 percent to reach 128,325 in 2018.

Source: Antara News

State-Owned Airport Operator, PT Angkasa Pura I (AP I) I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, installed six thermal scanners to check the body temperature of passengers as a precautionary measure against transmission of monkeypox.

“We are collaborating with the Denpasar Class I Port Health Office (KKP) to place six thermal scanner units at several points at the airport,” General Manager of I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Handy Heryudhitiawan, stated in Badung District, Bali, Wednesday.

He remarked that with the device, all passengers entering the airport area will have their temperatures scanned automatically. The six thermal scanners are placed at every entry point to the airport terminal, both domestic and international.

“Two units are placed at the entrance of international departures, two units at the international arrival area, and two units of thermal scanners at the entrance of domestic departures,” Heryudhitiawan explained.

After the Health Ministry announced the finding of the first monkeypox case in Indonesia in August 2022, his side tightened supervision at the airport to prevent the transmission of monkeypox disease in Bali.

The airport also continues to coordinate regularly with relevant stakeholders to prevent the transmission of monkeypox.

“We always synergize with the Denpasar Class I KKP to tackle the transmission of monkeypox in Bali. The airport officers are required to always wear masks while on duty and minimize direct contact with passengers to prevent transmission of the virus,” he stated.

Regarding passenger traffic at Bali Airport, he noted that there was no decrease in passenger numbers since the announcement of the monkeypox case in Indonesia.

“Until August 22, 2022, Bali Airport had served 913,988 passengers in total, with an average of 41,545 passengers per day. When compared to July, there were around 42,460 passengers per day. The traffic decreased in August since we were entering a low season period,” he stated.

Source: Antara News

Digital-based Islamic financial products could help reduce the risks involved in investing in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which often deter investors, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said.

“The portfolio of Islamic financial products available for MSMEs, including financing, guarantees, savings, money transfers, and cash management services, combined with digital technology, has the potential to be a solution for MSME financing,” the minister noted at the 6th Annual Islamic Finance Conference here on Wednesday.

MSMEs seeking to obtain sharia financing usually provide all information related to their business to potential investors so that they can reduce the risk for the investors in the future.

“Sharia financing can also be designed not through leverage or loan schemes, but through equity-based financing, so that risks can be truly structured,” Finance Minister said.

Furthermore, large Islamic financial institutions can also provide funds that are much cheaper, while Islamic microfinance institutions can provide funds directly to MSMEs through asset-based financing on the basis of takaful (Islamic substitute to insurance).

“With this model, Islamic microfinance institutions can have an (important) role not only in providing financial services, but also in providing technical (guidance) and coaching as well as overcoming risk problems experienced by MSMEs and investors,” Indrawati informed.

Islamic social finance that provides cheaper financing to MSMEs could increase the resilience of MSME actors during a financial crisis.

“With this digital-based Islamic finance, we can also track the behavior of MSMEs, the characteristics of their owners, and the development of their assets. This is all very valuable information so that the high-risk financing model for MSMEs can be significantly reduced,” the minister explained.

The difficulty MSMEs face in accessing financial services must be resolved because they contribute up to 60 percent to Indonesia’s total gross domestic product (GDP) and employ as much as 97 percent of the workforce.

“The design of our National Economic Recovery program also places the recovery of MSMEs as one of the most important (tasks and prioritizes them among sectors) to be granted government assistance, in addition to the health and social protection sectors,” Indrawati added.

Source: Antara News

Entrepreneurship deputy at the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Siti Azizah, on Wednesday called for a strategy for accelerating the digital transformation of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The digital transformation of MSMEs in Indonesia is still lagging behind compared to several other countries in Asia, she noted at the 6th Annual Islamic Finance Conference, which was streamed online on Wednesday.

This is evident from the fact that the digital transformation of Indonesian MSMEs only reached 13 percent in 2020 and it is targeted to reach 47 percent in 2024.

Meanwhile, in China and Japan, it reached 48 percent and 54 percent, respectively, in 2020, and could potentially rise to 78 percent and 84 percent, respectively, in 2024.

“We are still far lower compared to these countries,” she said.

Therefore, a strategy for accelerating MSME digital transformation is necessary from various aspects, including market access, production quality monitoring, finance and financing, organization management, production capacity, supply, distribution, and logistics.

As of June 2022, at least 19.6 million MSMEs have entered the digital ecosystem, which means that an additional 1.3 million MSMEs have been digitalized since the pandemic struck, accounting for 30.15 percent of the total MSMEs in Indonesia, Aziah noted.

This figure is 65.3 percent of the MSME digitalization target, under which the government is seeking to bring 30 million MSMEs into the digital ecosystem by 2024.

Meanwhile, the number of MSMEs in Indonesia has been recorded at 64.1 million, with micro-businesses accounting for 99.62 percent of MSMEs.

They account for 99.9 percent of the business population and 61.07 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP), or Rp8,573,9 trillion, Azizah informed.

“MSMEs also manage to absorb 96.9 percent of the manpower, contribute 15.6 percent to exports, and contribute 60 percent to investment,” she added.

Source: Antara News