Corona Virus Update #69    June 21, 2021

Cumulative number of reported cases 2,004,445 (as of June 21)

  • Recovered: 1,801,651
  • Deaths: 54,956
  • Fatality rate: 2.74%

Rupiah to US: 14,453
Jakarta Stock Exchange Index: 5996
Reserves (US$ Billions): $136.398 (May 31)

Overview- 2 million Cases/Highest One Day Case Rise

Indonesia registered its 2 millionth case this week amid a spike that began 2 weeks ago. The government is tightened its micro/local social restrictions—mandating more work from home in many offices but several governors (i.e. Jakarta, Yogyakarta) are already talking about lockdowns. This will be the policy debate going forward.

Detections are up 32% nationwide, 110% in Jakarta. 14,536 new cases were reported on Monday, June 21, the highest number since the pandemic hit Indonesia in 2020.

Other developments

  • Bed occupancy rates in many municipalities have already reached 80% or higher. Jakarta’s isolation facility, Wisma Atlet, went from 900 cases in mid-May to 5,749.
  • President Jokowi called for accelerating vaccinations, currently at 7%
  • Virus samples from Kudus, East Java—a region suffering from a spike—showed a prevalence of the Delta variant discovered in India.
  • A senior health ministry official said that Indonesia will receive 50 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine jointly made by Pfizer and BioNTech, with the first batch expected in August.
  • More than 350 doctors and medical workers have caught Covid-19in Kudus area iin East Java despite being vaccinated with Sinovac, officials said, as concerns grow about the efficacy of some vaccines against more infectious variants.
  • Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto restricted the number of people working from office to merely 25 percent in red zones, so that those who work from home can reach 75 percent.

 

Travel-

Indonesia is now banning travelers from India and Pakistan or who have traveled there. Check your airline regarding their route and landing policy.

Indonesia has not yet opened access for visa-on-arrival and visa-free during the COVID-19 pandemic, except for foreigners with essential purposes such as businesses, works, or humanitarian reasons. Visit Indonesian Immigration (https://www.imigrasi.go.id) and the Indonesian Embassy (https://kemlu.go.id/washington/en) for updated visa and entry requirements as regulations may change frequently.

Port of entry for international flights remains Jakarta for most flights.

The current situation is that you need to have a local sponsor to obtain a visa and you have to undergo a 5-night quarantine but should new cases spike, especially those involving the Indian variant, Indonesia could lengthen them to 14 days.  The local sponsor applies directly to Indonesia’s immigration department. Jakarta is currently the only port of entry; you fly to other regions (i.e. Bali) from there.

AICC member PT Cekindo is currently arranged business visas if you do not have a local sponsor. Contact: Vincent Cellier vincent.cellier@cekindo.com

 

Economic

  • Garuda Defaults on Bond: Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia said it could not distribute coupon payments for its $500 million sukuk after a 14-day grace period, with the airline’s finances still significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Indonesia’s Stock Exchange suspended trading in Garuda’s stock.
  • Indonesia’s Strategic Position in Nickel:Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has said he believes that Indonesia has strong bargaining power as one of the largest nickel producers in the world. With this in mind, the Indonesian government is also encouraging investment in downstream nickel derivative products for producing electric vehicle batteries, he pointed out. “With such large (nickel reserves), we can see that Indonesia has a strong bargaining position,” he said while delivering a lecture as part of the 61st National Defense Institute (Lemhanas) National Strategic Issues Field Visit Briefing on Thursday, according to a statement received here on Friday. By 2025, Indonesia is projected to account for 50 percent of the world’s nickel supply compared to 28 percent in 2020, he pointed out while making the online presentation.
  • World Bank Loan: Indonesia has received an $800 million loan from the World Bank to accelerate policy reforms in trade and investment, the finance ministry said in a statement on Friday. The loan will be used as part of government efforts to open more sectors to private investment, especially in renewable energy, improve access to basic food and facilitate access to the manufacturing sector, it said.
  • Trade Surplus: Indonesia clocked a trade surplus of US$2.36 billion in May 2021, the highest in the initial five months of this year, according to the Trade Ministry. Indonesia’s exports in May 2021 were recorded at US$16.60 billion, an increase of 58.76 percent from the corresponding month last year. However, the May 2021 exports declined 10.25 percent as compared to a month earlier as oil and gas exports plunged 2.68 percent, while non-oil/non-gas exports declined 10.67 percent.
  • World Bank Prescriptions for Job Creation: In its most recent status report on Indonesia the bank’s representative in Indonesia, Satu Kahkonen described four “pillars” for job growth:
  1. Improve employee retention through training and up-skilling until the economy can be smoothly recovered..
  2. Focus on creating middle-class jobs to improve productivity, incomes, and ensure higher social benefits during the ongoing crisis.
  3. Empowering the workforce through skill addition, which can be achieved with the help of learning and education.
  4. Bring more women into the workforce to narrow the gender gap in employment, he said.
  • World Bank Loan: Indonesia has received an $800 million loan from the World Bank to accelerate policy reforms in trade and investment, the finance ministry said in a statement on Friday. The loan will be used as part of government efforts to open more sectors to private investment, especially in renewable energy, improve access to basic food and facilitate access to the manufacturing sector, it said.

Foreign Affairs

Canada-Indonesia CEPA: Indonesia and Canada have opened negotiations over a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (ICA-CEPA) expected to spur bilateral trade and investment. Indonesia’s Trade Minister, Muhammad Lutfi, and Canada’s Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, Mary Ng, officially launched the negotiations during a virtual ceremony on Monday.

UAE Tax Treaty: Indonesia has ratified a tax treaty with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that straightens out taxation terms for cross-border transactions amid growing economic activity between the two countries.

 

 

 

(sources: International and Indonesia news media, Bali Update (from balidiscovery.com), Reformasi Weekly, US Embassy website)