Instant noodles are very popular in Indonesia. Those who have visited a supermarket or minimarket in Indonesia must have come across a relatively big-sized section that is devoted to all sorts of instant noodle products. Those who have ever stood in line to pay at the local Indonesian supermarket may have noticed that a couple of instant noodle packages tend to be among the items purchased by customers. And those who ever watched local television may have noticed that there are a lot of instant noodle commercials on Indonesian TV.

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Based on the latest reports - and contrary to earlier plans - the Indonesian government will not postpone the development of 15,200 MW of power projects. Earlier the government said it wanted to delay various power projects in an effort to curtail imports, thus improve the country's current account balance and ease heavy pressures on the rupiah exchange rate.

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For the second time in history Indonesia hosted the Asian Games (the first time being in 1962). Between 18 August and 2 September 2018 the event was held in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang. While, initially, there had been some concern about whether all infrastructure would be ready before the start of the Games and whether radicals would be eager to attack, at the end of the day everything went rather smoothly even though Indonesia only had two years and four months to prepare itself for the event (after Vietnam pulled out suddenly).

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It was a welcome surprise when Indonesia’s Statistics Agency (in Indonesian: Badan Pusat Statistik, or BPS) announced in early August that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 5.27 percent year-on-year (y/y) in the second quarter of 2018.

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