Corona Virus Update #75    August 9, 2021

Cumulative number of reported cases: 3,462,800 (as of August 2)

·     Deaths: 108,571
·     Recovered: 3,129,661
·     Fatality rate: 3.1 %

Rupiah to US: 14,378
Jakarta Stock Exchange Index: 6127
Reserves (US$ Billions): $137.343 (July 31)

Overview

COVID-19 Delta variant case detections are rising sharply in regions outside Java and Bali while falling 20% nationwide over the past week. Spikes are occurring in the provinces of South Sumatra and West Sumatra. Declines are occurring in West Java (including Jakarta) but remain on a plateau in Central Java at a high rate. Detections nationwide are down 33% from their July peak.

Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto told reporters on Thursday that the government would focus its resources on containing the second virus wave in the third quarter so that it could ease public activity restrictions (PPKM) by the fourth quarter. He said the government aimed to lower the number of active COVID-19 cases to around 200,000 before the fourth quarter, down from the current level of around 500,000 but still higher than the average of around 100,000 active cases in the second quarter.

Other developments:

·     Some 23.99 percent of the targeted citizens have received the first dose of vaccine, while 11.3 percent of the target are fully vaccinated, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto stated.

·     Forty-three foreign tourists visited the island of Bali in the first half of this year, a drop of 99.99 percent compared to the year-ago period, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Office in Bali informed.

·     Malls and food stalls are allowed to reopen under strict health protocols.

Travel- Restrictions Extended to August 23

The harder travel and work-from-home restrictions that were scheduled to be relaxed on August 9 (today) have been extended to August 23, announced by Luhut Pandjaitain, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment. 45 districts outside Java have been upgraded to Level 4 (highest restriction) because of their increased level of risk for the virus to spread.

Indonesia Travel Restriction Details can be found here.

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

Economic

·     First Unicorn Lists: Bukalapak became the first unicorn to publicly list on the Indonesian Stock Exchange. Raising $1.5 billion from 96,000 investors it was the largest IPO to date, ahead of coal mining firm PT Adaro Energy’s 2008 IPO, which raised $1.3 billion.

·     Pertamina Officially Takes Over From Chevron: After discovering oil in Sumatra in 1936, delayed by World War II, Chevron (then known as Caltex Pacific Indonesia) began producing oil in 1951. It now officially exits Indonesia after losing its production sharing contract to state-owned Pertamina as well as withdrawing from other projects. In 1924, Chevron, then called the Standard Oil Company of California (Socal), sent four geologists to study the area.

·     OSS Finally Launches: The Investment Ministry finally launched on Monday the updated online single submission (OSS) system for processing business licenses, after three successive delays since an initial launch date in June and following deactivation of the previous OSS version on July 30. The system was built by Indosat, one of Indonesia’s leading telecommunications companies.

·     Big GDP Percentage Gain in Q2: Indonesia’s GDP grew 7.07 percent in the second quarter, a 17-year high but is expected to slow down in the third quarter because of emergency mobility restrictions mandated to control the Delta variant of COVID-19. The country’s economy had contracted in the previous 4 quarters.

·     More Crypto Investors Than Retail According to the Trade Ministry, crypto investment transactions grew fivefold in five months to more than Rp 370 trillion (US$25.8 billion) in May. Indonesia had around 6.5 million crypto investors in May, while the number of retail investors registered with the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) stood at just 5.37 million.

Foreign Affairs

·     More Vaccines: On August 1, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Sung Y. Kim announced the arrival of 3.5 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the United States Government. These are in addition to the 4.5 million doses of Moderna donated by the United States in July.

·     Blinken Meets Marsudi: Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi today in Washington, D.C. Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Retno emphasized the growing importance of the U.S.-Indonesia Strategic Partnership and its contribution to a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific. This visit marked the first strategic dialogue between the two countries since the establishment of our strategic partnership in 2015. The U.S.-Indonesia strategic partnership is based on a fundamental belief in democracy, economic growth driven by innovation, and a rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific.  More

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