HM Sampoerna, Indonesia's largest tobacco company, decided to close two of its seven hand-rolled cigarette factories as the company needs restructuring due to its declining market share in the country's hand-rolled cigarettes industry. The market share fell from 30.4 percent in 2009 to 23.1 percent in 2013 as consumers are shifting to machine-rolled cigarettes. HM Sampoerna's hand-rolled cigarette plants in Jember and Lumajang (both in East Java) will be closed on 31 May 2014 and will lead to the termination of 4,900 employees.

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Today (Saturday 05/04), Bill Gates, co-founder and chairman of the Microsoft Corporation as well as the world's richest person (with a net worth of USD $76 billion according to Forbes), arrives in Jakarta for the launch of the Indonesia Health Fund. This fund, which is established through a cooperation between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Tahir Foundation, aims to combat diseases such as HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis, polio and malaria (both in Indonesia and outside Indonesia).

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The Indonesian government should take more action to reverse the country's widening income distribution inequality. Indonesia's Gini ratio, the coefficient that measures inequality among income distribution, has risen in 2013 according to economist Lana Soelistianingsih. The Gini coefficient rose from 0.37 in 2012 to 0.41 in 2013 (a coefficient of zero expresses perfect equality, while one implies maximal inequality). The growth not only shows that the Indonesian government fails to tackle this problem but also implies social risks.

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On 5 April 2014, the US-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private foundation, will travel to Indonesia to join Southeast Asia's largest economy in its combat against malaria, tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS as well as to support the country's birth control program through donating a total of USD $100 million. The foundation will also conduct fundraising in Indonesia by inviting various Indonesian businessmen to donate funds for the eradication of aforementioned diseases.

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SidoMuncul Herbal, Indonesia´s largest herbal medicine producer, is expected to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in the fourth quarter of 2013. The company, established in 1951, is a fully-modernized herbal company that strives to produce and market products that support the people´s health and well-being. The company will release 20 percent of its shares on the IDX and targets to raise IDR 1.5 trillion (USD $130 million). Kresna Securities acts as underwriter for the IPO.

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Forest fires on the Indonesian island Sumatra have brought severe smog over Singapore's skyline for the past five days, reaching record breaking levels of air pollution in Southeast Asia's wealthy city state. The forest fires are believed to be caused by illegal slash and burn practice on Indonesia's forest-rich island of Sumatra (for palm oil expansion) and represent a recurring problem in the dry season. Besides the environmental disaster, the forest fires cause health issues as well as economic losses for Singapore.

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One of the last decisions of the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration before being replaced by the new Joko Widodo-led administration was to raise the tobacco excise by an average of 8.7 percent per 1 January 2015. This excise will be applied to all tobacco-related manufactured products. The higher excise, stipulated by a Finance Ministry decree, will boost state income and will also help to curb smoking. About 65 percent of Indonesian men smoke, supported by the cheap price of a package of cigarettes.

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Widespread cigarette consumption among Indonesians (especially men) can have a negative impact on the country’s current demographic bonus. One of Indonesia’s strongpoints in terms of economic make-up is that it has a large and young, thus potentially productive, population. Indonesians in the productive age (15 to 64 years) outnumber those that are categorized as youth (below 15 years) and elderly (over 65 years). This large productive group should provide a boost to Indonesia’s economy in the next two decades.

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