Indonesia's purchasing power may not be as weak as initially assumed in the first half of 2017. It could be that consumers and businesses now actually prefer to save their funds on banks than to spend and invest. Based on data from the Financial Services Authority (OJK) third-party funds in Indonesia's banking sector (saving and deposit accounts) expanded 11.2 percent year-on-year (y/y) to IDR 5,012.5 trillion (approx. USD $3,775.4 billion) in May 2017.

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Leading American online social media and social networking service Facebook will open a permanent business entity (a foreign limited liability company, in Indonesian: perseroan terbatas penanaman modal asing, or PT PMA) in Indonesia later this month. The move is in line with Indonesian government requests. Earlier, Facebook only operated a representative office in Jakarta.

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Ina Primiana, Senior Economist at the Centre of Reform on Economics (CORE), is a bit pessimistic about Indonesia's economic growth in 2017. She sees gross domestic product (GDP) expanding by 5.1 percent year-on-year (y/y) this year as commodity prices and the retail sector fail to encourage higher growth.

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One of the businesses in Indonesia that thrive on the back of the large population and urbanization is the barbershop (hair salon). This is an example of a creative industry that is booming as demand is (in theory) omnipresent. Therefore, barbershops have mushroomed across the bigger cities, particularly in residential areas. For the richer segments of society there are expensive hair salons and stylists in the luxurious malls, while for the "ordinary" person there are plenty of cheaper barbershops on the streets of Jakarta.

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