A prolonged economic crisis due to Covid-19 pandemic hurts everybody, including newspapers. Mahaka Media (ABBA), publisher of Republika newspaper, which is owned by the family of Erick Thohir (minister of state-owned enterprises), among others, suffered more than 50% fall in revenues in the first half of 2020.

Over two hundred employees of an LG Electronics facility in Cikarang, West Java, have tested positive with COVID-19. The Spokesperson of the Bekasi Regency’s COVID-19 Mitigation Task Force, Alamsyah, broke the news to reporters yesterday (Aug. 25).  Over 600 employees...

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo is scheduled to inaugurate one section (Indrapuri-Blang Bintang, 13.5 KM) of Banda Aceh-Sigli toll road in Aceh province, which is part of the ambitious trans-Sumatra toll program, today. This will likely be followed with commercial operation of Indrapuri-Jantho section (16 KM), whose physical construction progress already above 60%.

Indonesia reported 2,266 new COVID-19 cases, 2,017 healed, and 72 deaths as of noon of Aug. 20, 2020, bringing the total number of active cases to 40,119. Specimen testing number increased after the long weekend holiday with 28,824 specimens tested from noon of Aug....

Indonesia reported 1,673 new COVID-19 cases, 1,848 healed, and 70 deaths as of noon of Aug. 18, 2020, bringing the total number of active cases to 40,460. The long weekend brought the number of tested specimens down to 14,371 specimens as many laboratories were closed in observance of the independence day holiday.

Indonesia recorded trade surplus of US$3.26 billion last month, mainly due to 14.33% increase in export value, while import declined by 2.73% from June. While export increased month-on-month, there was a 9.9% decline year-on-year. Import also fell sharply by 32.55% year-on-year, suggesting weak domestic investments and economic slowdown.

While President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is optimistic that Indonesia would have a COVID-19 vaccine by 2021, there is no certainty that the third-phase clinical trial being done in the country will be successful. Even if the Sinovac vaccine proves effective and safe for human use, logistical constraints in production and distribution would mean months of waiting time before it could reach the majority of Indonesians. One may wonder whether Indonesia’s economy can survive such a prolonged wait. But that is a question worth discussing if a vaccine is the only saving grace. There is another way out of this: it’s quick, easy, and affordable diagnosis. 

State-owned electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) is targeting to develop 12.8 Gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy plants as a part of its 2020-2024 long-term plan (RJPP). By 2025, the portion of renewable energy in the national energy mix is expected to reach 23 percent or 19.9 GW.

Indonesia is set to grow faster after the pandemic because construction of almost all major infrastructure projects progressed well. Physical construction of Section II of the over US$1 billion toll road and sea wall connecting Semarang (capital city of Central Java) and Demak (27 KM), for example, has quietly reached 10.56% with over 30% land in hands.

COVID-19 may have made Chevron Pacific Indonesia (CPI) lose the appetite to develop Indonesia’s oil fields. Global oil price has plummeted, and so follows the value of oil fields. The Deputy Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (and Pertamina commissioner) Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that Chevron had wanted to continue with the Rokan Block, but the pandemic changed things.