Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) is a state-controlled Indonesian bank that is market leader in the country's mortgage loans sector and is positioned inside the top ten of Indonesian banks in terms of assets and credit loans. The company's business activities focus on three sectors: mortgage loans and consumer banking, housing and commercial banking, and Syariah-banking (Islamic banking). Since the start of 2013, shares of Bank Tabungan Negara have fallen 23.65 percent.

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President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, mentioned in his speech ahead of the Independence Day that Indonesia's per capita GDP is expected to rise to USD $5,000 by 2014. An increasing per capita GDP triggers domestic consumption among Indonesia's rapidly expanding middle class segment and thus forms a catalyst for economic activity in the country. As can be seen in the table below, Indonesia's per capita GDP grew steadily between 2006 and 2012. In 2010, it hit the important level of USD $3,000.

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Indonesia's central bank, Bank Indonesia, decided today (15/08) to keep its benchmark interest rate (BI rate) at 6.50 percent. In recent days, heavy speculation emerged about whether Bank Indonesia would raise the BI rate for the third consecutive time in three months as the country is plagued by higher inflation (8.61 percent year-on-year in July 2013) and a weakening rupiah. Reluctance to raise the interest rate again seems to indicate that the Bank gives priority to economic growth, which has slid to a three-year low at 5.81 percent in Q2-2013.

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That global demand for Indonesian commodities in both the mining and agriculture sectors is still far from recovered is reflected by several financial reports, covering financial results over the first half of 2013, that were published today (15/08). Three Indonesian companies engaged in Indonesia's mining and agriculture sectors posted significantly reduced net profits compared to the same period in 2012. These companies are Indo Tambangraya Megah, Salim Ivomas Pratama, and Perusahaan Perkebunan London Sumatra Indonesia.

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