Indonesia’s railway operator records 163.6 mln USD loss in September
State-owned railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) posted 2.4 trillion IDR (163.6 million USD) loss between January and September, a drastic turn-around from the 1.5 trillion IDR profit booked during the same time last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to put pressure on travel demand.
Jakarta (VNA) – State-owned railway operator PT Kereta ApiIndonesia (KAI) posted 2.4 trillion IDR (163.6 million USD) loss betweenJanuary and September, a drastic turn-around from the 1.5 trillion IDR profitbooked during the same time last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues toput pressure on travel demand.
Its revenue also fell by 31.4 percent year-on-year to 12.2 trillion IDR as ofSeptember, KAI’s financial report submitted with the Indonesian Stock Exchangewebsite shows.
According to the report, the ongoing health crisis has created uncertaintiesthat continue to affect the company.
The company’s revenue from passenger services fell steeply by 67.6 percentyear-on-year to 2.3 trillion IDR in the first nine month of the year.
KAI shut down all of its long-distance and local passenger train services inApril following the government’s ban on the Idul Fitri mudik, and partiallyrestarted its operations on June 12. The closures have caused a 43.6 percentyear-on-year decline in passenger numbers during the first half of 2020 to118.6 million people, according to Transportation Ministry data.
KAI spokesperson Joni Martinus said on October 28 that there were signs ofimprovement in the company’s passenger numbers and the logistics services inthe third quarter.
The company recorded 35.7 million passengers in the third quarter, an around 75percent increase from the second quarter’s figure of 20.4 million, as theeconomy started to return to normal. Meanwhile, KAI’s logistics services alsocarried 11.5 million tonnes of goods between July and September, a 16 percentquarterly increase from the second quarter.
However, despite the quarterly increase in logistics volume, the company’sfinancial statement showed that KAI saw a 5.8 percent decrease year-on-year inrevenue from the service as of September to 4.79 trillion IDR.
In order to improve the balance sheet, KAI was working to secure its liquidityand ramp up cost reduction efforts, Joni said./.
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Illustrative image (Source: currency.com) 
