• Foreign Tourist Arrivals to Indonesia Jump 22.6% in January 2014

    The number of foreign tourists that visited Indonesia in January 2014 surged 22.6 percent to 753,079 from the same month last year. As usual, most tourists entered Indonesia through the Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, the most popular tourist destination of foreigners, followed by Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and Batam. A remarkable growth was detected in foreign visitor arrivals in Lombok, growing by 374 percent (yoy). However, this development was not explained by Statistics Indonesia in its press conference.

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  • Manufacturing Expansion of Indonesia Slips due to Natural Disasters

    Indonesia's February 2014 HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI), which measures the performance of the country's manufacturing industry, slipped to 50.5 from 51.0 in the previous month, thus indicating slowing growth (a reading above 50 indicates expansion in manufacturing activity, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction). Despite continued strong export orders, domestic demand weakened amid massive floods and volcanic eruptions at the start of the year.

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  • Rupiah Pressured by Ukraine Tensions and January Trade Deficit

    Amid a political crisis in the Ukraine, the oil price has risen significantly and the US dollar is appreciating against other currencies, particularly emerging market currencies, including the Indonesian rupiah exchange rate. Besides the US dollar, demand for other safe havens (gold, yen as well as US Treasuries) also increased due to Russian presence in the Ukraine (Crimea peninsula). Based on the Bloomberg Dollar Index, the rupiah had depreciated 0.35 percent to IDR 11,632 per US Dollar at 11:40 a.m. local Jakarta time.

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  • Indonesia Records USD $430 Million Trade Deficit in January 2014

    After recording three months of consecutive trade surpluses at the end of 2013, Indonesia's trade balance slipped back into deficit in January 2014. Indonesia - Southeast Asia's largest economy - posted a USD $430.6 million deficit in the first month of 2014. Exports fell 5.79 percent (year-on-year) to USD $14.48 billion, while imports fell 3.46 percent to USD $14.92 billion. The decline in exports were caused by the implementation of the ban on raw minerals (per 12 January 2014). Mineral ore exports fell over 70 percent (month-to-month).

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