On Friday morning (05/02) Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced that Indonesia's economy expanded 5.04 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2015, slightly higher than most analysts had been expecting. Full-year 2015 gross domestic product (GDP) growth was 4.79 percent (y/y). Although this figure is in line with expectations (which ranged between 4.70 and 4.80 percent), the growth pace still constitutes a six-year low for Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy. Meanwhile, BPS also announced it had revised Q3-2015 GDP up from 4.73 (y/y) to 4.74 (y/y).

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Rubber production in West Java continues to decline each year as ageing rubber trees cause lower productivity. Jabar Iyus Supriatna, adviser to the Indonesian Rubber Farmers Association (Apkarindo), therefore requests the government to take action and increase support for Indonesia's upstream rubber sector. Reportedly, the average yearly rubber output in the province of West Java fell to below the 750 kilogram per hectare mark. Supriatna said production should be optimized to about 1.5 tons per hectare in this province (through the rejuvenation of the rubber trees).

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The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) reported that Indonesian consumers are becoming increasingly optimistic about economic prospects and their personal financial situation this year, evidenced by a 5.1 point rise in Bank Indonesia's Consumer Confidence Index to 112.6 points in January 2016. This index is based on a survey, involving 4,600 households in 18 cities across the archipelago (a reading above 100 indicates optimism, while a reading below 100 indicates pessimism).

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Indonesian government officials confirmed that there was one case of the Zika virus in the country but emphasized that there is no need for panic. This case occurred in early 2015 in Jambi (Sumatra) and was discovered when researchers studied specimens during a dengue fever outbreak. The infected person recovered and there are no reports of other cases. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared this mosquito-borne virus a global emergency after having spread in South and Central America as well as the Caribbean. Asia is also vulnerable as the mosquito thrives in congested cities.

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