The Indonesian Palm Oil Board (DMSI) says higher productivity is the key to boost Indonesia's crude palm oil (CPO) production. Amid international pressure, particularly after the devastating forest fires on Sumatra and Kalimantan in the second half of 2015, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced to issue a five-year moratorium on new palm oil concessions to limit the expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia. Although Indonesian authorities want to see rising CPO output (in order to safeguard foreign exchange earnings and create employment opportunities), further growth should come on the back of rising productivity, not by adding new plantations.

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Indonesia's e-commerce industry has grown rapidly (in two-digits, annually) over the past five years. This growth is expected to continue in 2017 as well as in the years ahead. Aulia Marinto, Chairman of the E-Commerce Association (idEA), expects the value of e-commerce transactions in Indonesia to surge between 30-50 percent year-on-year (y/y) to USD $45 billion in 2017 from an estimated USD $30 billion in 2016. Indonesia is still in the early stages of the digital economy revolution and therefore there is ample room for robust growth, particularly due to rising Internet and smartphone penetration.

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Due to rising commodity prices Indonesia saw its export performance surge in January 2017. According to the latest data from Indonesia's Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia's exports grew 27.71 percent year-on-year (y/y) to USD $13.38 billion from the same month one year earlier, the fastest pace of export value growth since September 2011 and also exceeding analysts' estimates. This export growth was particularly attributed to higher prices of coal and crude palm oil (CPO).

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The second woman that was arrested in Kim Jong Nam's murder case is an Indonesian citizen named Siti Aishah, who originates from Banten in the western part of Java. Malaysian authorities announced the arrest of the Indonesian citizen. This was later confirmed by Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Ministry. Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of the North Korean leader, was poisoned on Tuesday (14/02) at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Indonesian authorities requested consular access in order to provide legal assistance to the Indonesian citizen.

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