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The pre-employment card program has been shown to improve the know-how of 11.4 million recipients since its launch in April 2020, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said.

“On average, the post-test score of participants increased to 68 compared to their pre-test score of 53. This suggests that the know-how of participants, in terms of cognitive and/or psychomotoric aspects, increased after partaking in training,” he said at an online press conference on Thursday.

Meanwhile, during the evaluation of the training, the participants got an average training score of 4.9 out of 5, he informed. This means that the training held under the pre-employment card program matched the interest, need, and expectations of the program recipients, he added.

“Nearly 87 percent of the total pre-employment card recipients had never attended such training before so the training was their first training experience,” he said.

The training evaluation, which was conducted by the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) Southeast Asia and Rumah Presisi Indonesia, scientifically showed that the pre-employment cards improved the competency, productivity, job, entrepreneurship, and income of recipients, he noted.

The achievement shows that the pre-employment card program has successfully carried out its double mission during the COVID-19 pandemic–improving skills and maintaining people’s purchasing power, the minister said.

Therefore, the government has presented the pre-employment card program as an example of a successful program at the G20 meeting, he added.

Source: Antara News

Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi said he has prepared a mitigation policy to address the rising prices of soybean that will be announced next week.

“Now, we have prepared a mitigation policy for the (increasing) price of soybeans. We will make a decision next week, and later, I will announce the policy,” Lutfi informed here on Thursday.

There were several reasons that have triggered the current global surge in soybean prices, the trade minister said. One of them is the El Nina climate phenomenon, which has disrupted soybean production in Argentina and South America, the main soybean producers, he informed.

This has limited soybean supply significantly, causing its price to escalate, he said.

In addition, there has been a shift in animal feed in China, where five billion pigs are now being fed soybeans, he noted.

“The very high demand is causing very high prices, then it has inflated the price of soybeans in Indonesia,” Lutfi pointed out.

Soybean cultivation in Indonesia is in a good condition, he said. However, the domestic supply of soybeans is only 500 thousand–750 thousand tons per year, far below the country’s requirement of 3 million tons per year, he added.

Hence, 80–90 percent of the national soybean needs are still fulfilled through imports from several countries, the minister said.

The rise in soybean prices has also impacted the prices of fermented food products, such as tofu and tempe, he noted.

Director of domestic trade at the ministry, Oke Nurwan, earlier estimated that the price of tempe would reach around Rp10,300–Rp10,600 per kg due to the soybean price surge. Meanwhile, the price of tofu would range between Rp52,450–Rp 53,700 per board or Rp650–Rp700 per piece, he said.

Meanwhile, Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS) researcher Nisrina Nafisah said that the government needs to diversify the countries it imports soybean from to reduce the inflation impact and stabilize the domestic price of soybeans.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta is aiming to emerge as a global leader in sustainable public transportation, Governor Anies Baswedan has said.

“The transformation of transportation requires a clear vision, and we have the vision to transform Jakarta from a predominantly traffic-heavy, dense, and polluted city to a global leader in sustainable public transportation,” he remarked at the ‘Transforming Transportation Conference: Climate-Centered Mobility for A Sustainable Recovery,’ here on Thursday.

According to Baswedan, sustainable public transportation will allow residents and visitors to feel safe and comfortable.

He said the Jakarta provincial government has also made a series of development and paradigm shifts in the transportation sector by prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists, then mass public transportation, emission-free vehicles, and finally, private vehicles.

“Jakarta has also initiated sustainable mobility through an integrated transportation system by shifting the paradigm from Car-Oriented Development to Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). Mass public transport also creates a city that is more integrated,” Baswedan explained.

The commitment to improving mass public transportation can build public trust in public transportation services, he added.

Jakarta has also doubled its public transport coverage (from 42 percent in 2017 to 82 percent), the governor informed. Thus, Jakarta is on the right track in providing public transportation within 500 m from home that is targeted to reach 95 percent coverage in 2022, he said.

Jakarta is also aiming to operationalize 14 thousand electric buses along with ensuring a 60-percent share of public transportation modes by 2030, he added.

“We believe that the best way to understand a city is to use a public transport system and ensure everyone living in the urban area has access to safe, intense, affordable, and carbon-free mass transportation. In addition to connecting places, public transportation also connects people. It is public transport that unites us,” he remarked.

The international discussion forum was also attended by World Bank managing director Mari Elka Pangestu and the President of the Federated States of Micronesia, David W. Panuelo.

Source: Antara News

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$150 million loan to support Indonesia’s green infrastructure projects in order to help the country reach the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“It will boost the development of sustainable infrastructure and accelerate the country’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic by bringing in capital and creating jobs,” head of ADB’s Green and Innovative Finance for Southeast Asia, Anouj Mehta said in a statement on Wednesday.

The loan under the SDGs Indonesia One-Green Finance Facility, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, will finance 10 projects, which 70 per cent allocated to green infrastructure and the rest for the SDGs.

The loan to the Indonesian government will be re-lent to PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur, or PT SMI, a state-owned infrastructure financing institution, which will administer the facility.

ADB also approved technical assistance to help strengthen PT SMI’s ability to implement the facility and eventually broaden the firm’s services to support other borrowers and catalyse private funding.

The technical assistance is funded with US$1.2 million from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and US$375,000 from Luxembourg’s Financial Sector Development Partnership Special Fund.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Indonesia will promote the use of local currency settlement (LCS), in cross-border trade and investment, as an effort to reduce dependency on the U.S. dollar, the country’s Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, said yesterday.

Indrawati said, she will raise the issue about the LCS scheme, during the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting, being held here, from today until tomorrow.

“If the LCS can be implemented at a wider global level, this could create a financial safety net among countries, and could reduce the risks caused by global economic and financial instability,” Indrawati told a seminar, ahead of the FMCBG meeting.

“Under the LCS, transaction costs will be lower, because traders or investors do not need to convert each country’s currency into the (U.S.) dollar,” she said.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK