Hari ini, Bank Dunia menerbitkan edisi terbaru dari publikasi andalannya Indonesia Economic Quarterly berjudul “Reformasi di Tengah Ketidakpastian". Dalam edisi ini, lembaga yang bermarkas di Washington ini menyatakan bahwa kondisi global masih tetap tidak menguntungkan meskipun kondisi pasar keuangan telah stabil sejak Oktober. Sementara itu, Indonesia terkena dampak negatif dari kebakaran hutan dan kabut asap beracun akibat perbuatan manusia yang merugikan Indonesia kira-kira Rp 221 triliun (atau 1,9% dari produk domestik bruto negara ini) dalam waktu lima bulan.

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The World Bank says income inequality in Indonesia is widening and as a consequence the fruits of Indonesia's economic growth over the past decade have only been enjoyed by the richest 20 percent of Indonesian society, leaving behind the remaining 80 percent of the population (or 200 million people). In its new report titled "Indonesia's Rising Divide" the World Bank states that rising inequality in society can jeopardize social cohesion, as well as political and economic stability over the long term. The report claims that inequality in Indonesia has reached a relatively high level and is climbing faster than in most of its regional peers.

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Shares of newly-listed Dua Putra Utama Makmur soared on Tuesday (08/12) at its debut on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). Shares of the fish processing firm, the 15th company to be welcomed on the IDX in 2015, climbed 50 percent to finish at IDR 825 per share. Dua Putra Utama Makmur offered 40 percent (1.67 billion new shares) of its total equity at a price of IDR 550 per share, hence raising IDR 918.5 billion (approx. USD $67 million).

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Global credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service expects loan growth in Indonesia to continue to slow in 2016 as sluggish economic growth curtails corporate and individual demand for funding in Southeast Asia's largest economy. Meanwhile, a survey conducted by Standard & Poor's shows that the majority of Indonesians are financially illiterate, implying that the government needs to increase efforts to educate its population. Lastly, Asian Development Bank President Takehiko Nakao is convinced that a US interest rate hike will not cause a new financial crisis in Asia. Lets zoom in a bit further on these three subjects.

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