Indonesia's Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Thursday (15/12) that the nation's export performance in November 2016 showed a sharp increase. Sasmito Hadi Wibowo, Deputy for Statistics Distribution and Services at BPS, said Indonesia's export growth was "rather spectacular" and gives rise to optimism that global demand and trade have improved. In November Indonesia posted a USD $838 million trade surplus, down from the revised USD $1.24 billion in the preceding month. In all of the first eleven months of 2016, Indonesia recorded a trade surplus.

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The Federal Reserve decided - in line with expectations - to raise its benchmark Fed Funds Rate by 0.25 percent to the range of 0.50 - 0.75 percent, exactly one year after its first rate hike (in a decade). Furthermore, the Fed Chair Janet Yellen also indicated it sees three more interest rate hikes in 2017. This is a bit more hawkish than markets expected. Tighter monetary policy in the USA is required as the US labor market and growth in household spending improves. Inflation has also improved but remains below the Fed's 2 percent (y/y) target. Business investment, however, remains soft.

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Indonesia's Constitutional Court declared the government's tax amnesty program as "constitutional". In July 2016 a group of legal activists had filed for a judicial review of the central government's tax amnesty program on claims that the program would turn money laundering into a legal practice, would protect criminals, would teach Indonesian citizens not to pay taxes, and would generally constitute an unfair program from a social point of view. The court rejected these arguments.

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Today (13/12) the first day of incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Cahaya Purnama's blasphemy trial took place at the Central Jakarta District Court. During this first session the prosecution team explained how Ahok allegedly violated Article 156a of the Criminal Code through the content of a speech in Jakarta's Thousand Islands district in late September. Meanwhile, defendant Ahok and his lawyer delivered a note of objection.

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