Category: Trading

The Finance Ministry has urged to utilize the state budget prudently by forgoing the tendency to only boost budget absorption by year-end, as it is viewed as being inefficient and risky.

“In the last five years, nationally, budget absorption in the third and fourth quarters usually reached 35 percent, and in December, (government officers, who manage the state budget) only have 15 effective working days, so this needs to become a matter of concern for all,” Ministry of Finance’s Director of Budget Implementation, Tri Budhianto, stated in Padang on Tuesday.

Budhianto conveyed the statement at the coordination meeting on the implementation of the 2022 budget themed “Accelerating Spending of the Ministries/Institutions for Economic Recovery.”

The state budget is one of the most important components of economic recovery, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, he highlighted.

“Hence, it is necessary to ensure that the state budget is effective in its role in reviving the economy,” he affirmed.

Hence, he stressed that it was important to expedite the process of realizing budget absorption to accelerate economic growth and reduce contraction.

According to Budhianto, when absorption of the state budget is only expedited at the end of the year, then several risks will emerge.

“Firstly, the society cannot feel the benefit (of the budget),” he noted. Budhianto cited as an example that communities should have enjoyed a newly built bridge if its construction is started by the year’s start and not the end.

Secondly, the governance of the state budget at the year-end usually brings up several questions.

“A trade-off happens between acceleration and accuracy,” he stated.

He also figured that the year-end budget absorption was usually done hastily.

“Let us be honest, who still checks the documents after so many budget years?” he questioned.

Budhianto noted that the risk of hurried budget absorption at the year-end also included arrears.

“Arrears must be allocated for the next year, so next year’s activities are sacrificed for paying the debts,” he noted.

Source: Antara News

Deputy Minister of Trade, Jerry Sambuaga, has said that his ministry expects the number of crypto asset traders in Indonesia to continue to increase if the current growth trend continues.

“The last two years are an interesting year on the aspect of crypto assets trade development in Indonesia. Until February 2022, the transaction value is increasing by 14.5 percent compared with the same period in 2021. Last month, we have also recorded 12.4 million subscribers,” Sambuaga said in a statement received here on Tuesday.

The continued growth must continue to be monitored constantly by the authorities to ensure crypto asset trading in Indonesia remains legal, he added.

Sambuaga further revealed that according to the Trade Ministry’s data, the total transaction value of crypto assets in Indonesia reached Rp64.9 trillion in 2020 and shot up to Rp859.4 trillion in 2021. In January–February 2022, the transaction value was recorded at Rp83.8 trillion, he added.

Moreover, around 18 crypto assets trading companies have been recognized by the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (Bappebti), and their number is expected to rise this year, the deputy minister noted.

The regulatory agency has issued several regulations on crypto asset trading in Indonesia, he informed.

Bappebti Regulation No. 8 of 2021 enumerates the criteria for crypto assets that can be traded in Indonesia: the crypto assets must be either utility crypto or crypto-backed assets, have been assessed by the analytical hierarchy process method mandated by the Bappebti, and have an economic purpose, Sambuaga clarified.

Crypto assets with an economic purpose, as defined by the agency, are assets that can be taxed and can promote the growth of the digital economy, informatics industry, and digital talents, he explained.

The deputy minister clarified that crypto assets are not a medium of exchange but only a trade commodity or asset. Crypto assets must also undergo risk assessment to prevent them from being used for money laundering, terrorism funding, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, he said.

“Crypto assets that could be traded in the domestic markets are listed in Bappebti Regulation No. 7 of 2020 on Determining the List of Crypto Asset that could be Traded in Crypto Asset Physical Market,” Sambuaga added.

He further said that the ministry welcomes new crypto assets developed by Indonesians, which demonstrates the openness and high interest of domestic developers in contributing to the domestic crypto assets industry.

Source: Antara News

The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) stated that it encouraged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to also focus on investigating cases causing large state financial losses apart from arrest operations.

“In our research, we criticize the Corruption Eradication Commission, so that it does not only focus on (arrest) operations but cases with large state financial losses must also be a priority for their work,” ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhana stated during a virtual discussion at the launch of the research titled “The Urgency of Arrangements for Seizure of Collateral in Handling of Corruption Crimes,” as seen here on Tuesday.

The ICW researcher deemed this measure as necessary to be taken, as data on the total state financial losses caused by corruption in 2020 indicated that most cases were actually handled by the Attorney General’s Office, with a refund of state financial losses of Rp118 billion.

Ramadhana remarked that in addition to imposing criminal penalties on the corruptors, the recovery of state finances also should be addressed as part of the efforts to eradicate corruption since the most fundamental motive of corruption was economic issues.

He also pointed out that the ICW and several academics had implored the government to revise Law No. 20 of 2001 on Corruption Acts in order to support the agenda of state financial recovery.

“There must be improvements to several points in the Anti-Corruption Law or the ratification of regulations to support the agenda for recovering state financial losses,” Ramadhana emphasized.

The ICW researcher also highlighted the need to ratify the Draft Law on Limitation of Currency Transactions and the Bill on Confiscation of Criminal Assets.

“We ICW (members) are very confident that these three laws (revision of the Anti-Corruption Law and the ratification of the Bill on Limiting Currency Transactions and the Bill on the Confiscation of Criminal Assets) will significantly support the work of the Indonesian National Police, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Corruption Eradication Commission in uncovering and ensuring that the (compensation) of state financial losses can run well,” he affirmed.

Source: Antara News

The state budget will continue to absorb risks from the turmoil caused by the spread of the pandemic and geopolitical conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati stated.

“Various dynamics will continue to occur and the state budget will be the main instrument for absorbing risks from each turbulence,” Indrawati noted at the KiTA State Budget Press Conference in Jakarta, Monday.

In 2022, the geopolitical conditions, especially the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, have brought risks different from those arising due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, she pointed out.

This conflict has an indirect impact on the increase in the global commodity prices, especially food and energy commodity prices, which affected the prices of other commodities, Indrawati noted.

“This has pushed up inflation in developed countries, especially in Europe and the United States, which experienced very high price hikes, and it then led to a quite drastic tightening policy response,” the minister remarked.

The Federal Reserve (The Fed), the US Central Bank, announced it would increase its benchmark interest rate up to seven times throughout 2022 and start reducing its quantitative easing policy.

Indrawati addressed that the United States’ policy had an impact on the decline in yield and price of Indonesian securities. However, the minister said she will take appropriate steps to anticipate the risk of changes in future.

“We have to look at two aspects, the increase in interest rates themselves and the price of securities that will experience further pressure due to capital outflows. We must be aware of debt management and especially in financing,” she emphasized.

The minister noted that the performance and resilience of Indonesian securities remained good despite experiencing shocks in the form of capital outflows.

“We will continue to maintain this because in future, the condition will not get better. However, we will witness shocks that we will continue to anticipate,” she stated.

Source: Antara News

Indonesia G20 will strive to expand the development of a global health manufacturing and research center in preparation to prevent and respond to the pandemic in future, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated.

“To strengthen global health, we need to equally redistribute research and manufacturing capability toward vaccine, therapeutics, and diagnostics,” he noted.

During a press conference for the G20 Health Working Group (HWG) meeting titled “Harmonizing Global Health Protocol Standards” here on Monday, Sadikin noted that vaccine, therapeutic, and diagnostic equality were crucial health aspects during the pandemic.

Research and manufacturing capability should ideally exist in various nations and not just in advanced nations or countries with high income. This means the knowledge redistribution process is necessary, he stated.

For the G20 Presidency, Sadikin highlighted three agendas in the health sector. These agendas also became topics that President Joko Widodo had requested.

The first agenda concerns building the global health system resiliency. The second involves harmonizing global health protocol standards to ensure similar standards on regulations related to PCR, quarantine, and others.

The third relates to developing global manufacturing and knowledge center for the prevention, preparation, and response to the pandemic.

“For the working group, the topics of global health resiliency system and redistribution of the global manufacturing and knowledge center for the prevention, preparation, and response to the pandemic will have their own session,” he explained.

Earlier, the Health Ministry’s official, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, stated that through the G20, Indonesia will encourage development of the health manufacturing and study center in developing countries.

“For now, we strengthen global relations among scientists in virology, immunology, epidemiology, and other branches related to the health crisis,” she noted.

Source: Antara News

State-owned electricity provider PT PLN (Persero) is offering a 30-percent discount to electric vehicle owners who charge their vehicles using home-charging facilities from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

“Thus, they only need to pay Rp1,100 per kilowatt per hour (kWh) out of the normal tariff of Rp1,450 per kWh,” president director of PT PLN (Persero), Darmawan Prasodjo, informed during a hearing with Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) here on Monday.

He said that the company is offering the discount as part of efforts to increase electricity consumption overnight since the utilization of power plants is not optimal at night due to a decline in community and industrial activities.

In addition, the discount provision is also aimed at encouraging the development of the electric vehicle ecosystem in Indonesia.

Furthermore, the enterprise is trying to digitize home-charging services. Thus, PLN customers who buy electric vehicles will also get one package for home-charging.

The facility will be directly connected to a server owned by PLN through optical Internet.

“Thus, for anyone who has bought an electric vehicle, please report it to PLN. We will immediately connect your home-charging facility to the server and give you a discount,” the president director stated.

This is because the electricity bill for household consumption is different from the bill for home-charging equipment, he added.

Furthermore, the latest models of electric cars can cover a distance of 350–370 kilometers (km) once fully charged, he noted.

Meanwhile, the average distance covered by the vehicles inside a city is only 80–100 km per day. Hence, the charging of the vehicle is being mostly done at home, not at electric vehicle charging stations (SPKLU).

“Thus, since the charging usually takes five hours per day and we give electricity discounts from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., the energy cost spent for operating the vehicle will become very cheap,” Prasodjo added.

Source: Antara News

The Indonesia Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, held a business forum on Indonesia Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Day on Monday to attract investors, specifically in the nation’s infrastructure sector.

The Finance Ministry-held business forum discussed innovative financing policies and instruments as well as the support that the government is providing to realize Indonesia’s commitment to sustainable infrastructure development.

The forum featured several figures, including Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati as well as several panelists.

The panelists comprised Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, Communication and Informatics Minister Johnny Gerard Plate, and West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil.

World Bank country director for Indonesia and Timor-Leste, Satu Kähkönen, also attended the event.

“By 2045, Indonesia will become a nation with the fifth biggest economy in the world,” the Trade Ministry’s national export development director general, Didi Sumedi, noted.

“This projection is what we continue to uphold during Indonesia’s participation in the Expo 2020 Dubai,” he added.

Sumedi, concurrently the Commissioner General of Indonesia Pavilion, also said that this is Indonesia’s opportunity to continue to draw investment, especially in domestic infrastructure construction and development projects.

The business forum discussed the government’s guarantee instrument integrated with the blended finance infrastructure to bolster the implementation of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principle, he informed.

This is meant to encourage the active participation of the private sector in developing and funding Indonesia’s sustainable infrastructure development.

This aligns with the main focus of UAE’s investment in Indonesia, specifically renewable energy and industry based on good environmental management.

Through the PPP scheme, project supervisors can access Finance Ministry’s support, such as project preparation facility and eligibility support, which have been integrated with the government’s guarantee and the SDG Indonesia One platform.

“All of these supports are provided to encourage the private sector’s participation in developing and financing Indonesia’s sustainable infrastructure development, which aligns with Golden Indonesia 2045 vision,” Finance Ministry official Brahmantio Isdijo said.

The success of Indonesia’s infrastructure development is inseparable from the success of the PPP scheme.

Major projects that were successfully built under the scheme include the Cikampek Toll Road, water supply system in Bandar Lampung, and Palapa Ring project that has involved the development of fiber optic infrastructure for telecommunication and managed to reach 17 remote regions in Indonesia.

Source: Antara News

People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Bambang Soesatyo, while receiving the Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia, Lu Kang, here, invited investors from China to assist in the development of the Mengwi-Gilimanuk toll road.

“The existence of the Mengwi-Gilimanuk toll road is very strategic and promising for investors because it can accommodate vehicles from west to east, and vice versa, in Bali,” he said in a statement issued on Monday.

The toll road can serve as an alternative route from Gilimanuk Harbor to the capital of Bali, Denpasar, he added.

The toll road will also shorten the traveling time from Gilimanuk to Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar, and Tabanan from six hours to just two hours.

Soesatyo said he expects the Chinese Ambassador to encourage Chinese investors to invest in Bali’s Mengwi-Gilimanuk toll road, which stretches 96.21 kilometers.

The toll road consists of three sections: section I from Gilimanuk to Perkutatan spans 54.7 km, section II connecting Perkutatan and Soka is 23.17 km in length, and section II linking Soka with Mengwi stretches 18.9 km.

The toll road encompasses three districts of Bali: Jembrana, Tabanan, and Badung.

Soesatyo also lauded the increase in Indonesia and China’s bilateral trade in 2021. Trade between the countries swelled to US$110 billion in 2021, a 54.04-percent increase compared to 2020.

This figure is the largest in the history of Indonesia-China trade.

“I expect that the achievement can be improved,” Soesatyo remarked.

He further said he expects that the trade value will be more balanced in the future. Indonesia’s trade deficit was US$2.44 billion, though the figure was better than the deficit in 2020, which stood at US$7.85 billion.

Indonesia’s trade balance deficit with China is affected by non-tariff trade hurdles for Indonesia’s prime commodities in agriculture, farming, and fishery sectors.

Source: Antara News