• Failure to Attract Ratings Upgrade Could Inhibit Rupiah

    Over the last few months, we have seen a good deal of stability in the financial markets. This has been the experience in most asset classes, and the global value of the Indonesian rupiah is giving investors an idea of how the IDR is likely to continue to perform as an emerging market asset.

    Read column ›

  • Indonesia's Bakrie & Brothers Offers Convertible Bonds to Creditors

    One of Indonesia's long standing companies - and also one of the most controversial ones in Indonesia - Bakrie & Brothers plans to offer part of its shares to creditors Mitsubishi Corporation, Glencore International, and Eurofa Capital Investment in a debt for equity swap. This plan is part of the company's efforts to restructure USD $453 million worth of debt through mandatory convertible bonds. Indra Ginting, Chief Investor Relation Officer at Bakrie & Brothers, confirmed the company owes Mitsubishi USD $150 million, Glencore USD $200 million, and Eurofa Capital USD $103 million.

    Read column ›

  • Reforming Indonesia's Tax System is Key to Unlock S&P's Investment Grade

    In the past two weeks, two of the big international credit rating agencies released new reports about Indonesia's fiscal situation. Both agencies affirmed Indonesia's sovereign debt rating: Fitch Ratings kept Indonesia at BBB-/stable (investment grade class) and Standard & Poor's (S&P) maintained Indonesia at BB+/positive (highest junk level, one notch below investment grade). S&P's decision to keep Indonesia within the junk level category was met with disappointment among investors and Indonesian government officials but perhaps not that surprisingly.

    Read column ›

  • Economic Update Indonesia May 2016: Inflation & Manufacturing PMI

    The first day of the month - in case of a working day - implies that investors can count on the release of several macroeconomic data from Indonesia, specifically inflation and manufacturing activity. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced this morning (01/06) that Indonesia's consumer inflation reached 0.24 percent (m/m), or 3.33 percent (y/y), in May 2016. Meanwhile, the Nikkei Indonesia Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) eased to a reading of 50.6 in May from 50.9 one month earlier. Lets take a closer look at these data.

    Read column ›