Coronavirus Crisis: Sri Mulyani Set to Launch Pre-employment Card
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26 February 2020 23:49 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the launching of the Pre-employment Card program that was initially planned for mid-2020, will be expedited in March as part of the efforts to suppress the coronavirus impact on the country's economy.
"It was planned to be launched in the middle of this year, but Bapak President [Jokowi] instructed us to kick off the program in March," said Sri in Jakarta on Wednesday, February 26, 2020.
The former managing director of the World Bank explained that the government allocated a budget of IDR 10 trillion to facilitate vocational training for two million unemployed citizens.
Sri hoped that the program could help boost Indonesia's economy in the first quarter of 2020. "The government is ready with instruments to improve the Q1 economy that is highly affected by the virus," she added.
Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for Economy Airlangga Hartarto said that the Pre-employment Card program was designed as the solution for seven million Indonesian people who are still seeking for jobs.
"The president orders to launch it in March and focus [the program implementation] in regions affected by the coronavirus, especially in tourism areas, such as Bali, North Sulawesi, Riau Island," Airlangga said.
Airlangga explained that pre-employment card program recipients would receive pocket money of IDR 500,000 per month. "They will be trained and receive monthly pocket money. The training aims at increasing their skill," Airlangga added.
ANTARA