Bagian Berita Hari Ini adalah bagian yang diperbarui setiap hari dan berisi informasi terkini mengenai topik-topik yang mewarnai pemberitaan di media massa Indonesia pada hari ini. Sebagian besar berita yang diterbitkan di sini meliputi hal politik, ekonomi dan sosial. Namun, seiring dengan penampilan berita terkini, tentu belum meliputi analisis yang mendalam. Silakan lihat kolom Berita, Keuangan atau Bisnis jika Anda ingin membaca topik tertentu dengan analisis yang lebih mendalam.
Normally the Ramadan month and Idul Fitri holiday (the celebration that marks the end of the Islamic fasting month) trigger an acceleration of economic activity as people consume more products (such as food and clothes), while the exodus of people from the cities to the rural areas during the week-long Idul Fitri (where they will spend a short holiday) causes a massive flow of money from the urban areas into the regional economies.
Car and motorcycle sales of the Astra Group, one of Indonesia's largest diversified conglomerates, still show no positive signs in the first half of 2017. Fransiscus Soerjopranoto, Executive General Manager at Toyota Astra Motor, said this Astra unit's retail sales fell 0.8 percent year-on-year (y/y) to 186,365 units in the first six months of 2017. This bleak performance is attributed to Indonesians' weaker consumer purchasing power.
BRI Syariah, the Islamic banking unit of leading Indonesian commercial bank Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), is currently assessing the prospects of conducting an initial public offering (IPO) on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Indri Tri Handayani, Corporate Secretary at BRI Syariah, will invite several supporting institutions active within capital markets to advise on this IPO plan, including the administrative matters. If BRI Syariah will indeed go-ahead with the IPO, then it will not be realized sooner than early 2018.
Indonesia's pharmaceutical industry remains promising for foreign investors, evidenced by rising growth in the first half of the year. For the first time in three years growth in Indonesia's pharmaceutical industry could touch double-digit figures again. Parulian Simanjuntak, Executive Director of the International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group (IPMG), said the industry has improved compared to the situation one year ago.
