During his state visit to the USA, Indonesian President Joko Widodo told US President Barack Obama that Indonesia intends to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. Currently, 12 countries have joined the TPP, including the USA and Japan, thus creating the world's largest free trade area (an area that covers about 40 percent of world trade). By many analysts the TPP is regarded a counterbalance to the big economic influence of China.

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Paket kebijakan ekonomi kedua Indonesia di bulan September, diumumkan pada hari Selasa (29/09), menerima sambutan yang lebih hangat dari para pelaku pasar dibandingkan dengan yang pertama (diterbitkan pada 9 September), dibuktikan dengan rebound saham dan penguatan nilai tukar rupiah kemarin. Paket kebijakan terbaru Indonesia mencakup pemotongan pajak bunga untuk para eksportir, percepatan perizinan investasi untuk investasi di kompleks industri, dan pelonggaran pajak untuk impor barang-barang modal kompleks industri dan industri penerbangan.

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Presiden Joko Widodo, dikenal dengan panggilan Jokowi, akan mengumumkan paket kebijakan ekonomi kedua pada hari Selasa (29/09) di Istana Negara di Jakarta sesuai dengan pernyataan Menteri Koordinator Bidang Perekonomian Darmin Nasution. Menurut laporan, paket kedua akan berfokus terutama pada mendongkrak daya saing ekspor Indonesia dan daya tarik Indonesia sebagai tempat tujuan investasi.

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Ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the two-day policy meeting which starts today (16/09), the US dollar continues to appreciate against most currencies, including the Indonesian rupiah, as investors remain cautious ahead of a possible US interest rate hike. By 09:36 am local Jakarta time, the rupiah had depreciated 0.29 percent to IDR 14,450 per US dollar according to the Bloomberg Dollar Index, a fresh 17-year low.

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On Wednesday afternoon, Indonesian President Joko Widodo unveiled some details of the new economic policy package, involving major deregulation measures, that had been announced last week by Chief Economics Minister Darmin Nasution. This package aims - on the medium to long term - to boost Indonesia’s sluggish economy.

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Indonesia telah membatalkan pengembangan jalur kereta berkecepatan tinggi antara Ibukota Jakarta dan Bandung (Jawa Barat) karena Presiden Joko Widodo memutuskan bahwa Indonesia tidak membutuhkan sebuah kereta yang bisa mencapai kecepatan lebih dari 300 kilometer (km) per jam untuk rute yang relatif singkat (150 km) di antara kedua kota. Selain jarak yang pendek, juga akan ada sekitar 14 stasiun yang didirikan di antara dua stasiun terminal, mengimplikasikan bahwa kereta ini perlu direm berkali-kali sebelum bisa mencapai kecepatan maksimumnya.

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The government of Indonesia is still busy preparing the policy package that was announced last week by Chief Economics Minister Darmin Nasution. Earlier it was reported that this stimulus package, expected to be finalized this month, involves deregulation and tax holidays designed to boost economic activity in Indonesia as well as to attract foreign currency inflows. The government will also look at how it can provide incentives to accelerate smelter development in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

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Beberapa minggu lalu, telah dilaporkan bahwa Presiden Indonesia Joko Widodo meminta Menteri Tenaga Kerja & Transmigrasi Hanif Dhakiri untuk merevisi draft peraturan (dibuat di tahun 2013) yang mengharuskan para ekspatriat lulus tes penguasaan Bahasa Indonesia sebagai persyaratan mendapatkan izin kerja. Menurut Widodo, peraturan ini akan mengurangi daya tarik iklim investasi Indonesia.

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo wants to drop the regulation that states a foreign worker needs to learn Indonesian. Today (21/08), Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said President Widodo (often called Jokowi) requested Hanif Dhakiri, Indonesian Minister of Manpower and Transmigration, to revise this regulation (that was issued in 2013). According to Jokowi the language proficiency requirement would make Indonesia’s investment climate less competitive and could therefore hamper much-needed investment.

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On Friday (14/08) the Indonesian government unveiled its 2016 State Budget draft at a session in the House of Representatives (DPR). The draft is important as it shows government targets regarding the macroeconomy of Indonesia and it shows on what fields the government will focus in terms of public spending. The government - led by Indonesian President Joko Widodo - is optimistic that economic growth will finally rebound after four years of slowing economic growth as its 2016 GDP growth target was set at 5.5 percent (y/y).

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo kicked off his short European tour on Monday (18/04) in Berlin (Germany) where he met German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Bilateral relations between Indonesia and Germany are important because Germany is Indonesia's largest trading partner in the European continent and Indonesia's seventh-largest investor. Merkel praised Indonesia's economic development amid the complex context (having more than 255 million citizens and consisting of over 17,000 islands). Both state heads talked about strengthening existing partnership in vocational education in several sectors.

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo has ordered the nation's Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya to issue a moratorium on new palm oil concessions in a number of provinces. Although Widodo wants Indonesia - the world's top producer and exporter of crude palm oil (CPO) - to raise CPO output, he believes this increase can be achieved by increasing productivity of existing palm oil plantations, not by adding new plantations. Indonesia is often criticized by environmentalist groups for its forestry policies and poor law enforcement (which led to the severe haze that spread through Southeast Asia last year).

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) called for an investigation into the Indonesian people and companies mentioned in the Panama Papers, the massive leak involving 11.5 million confidential documents from the database of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. These documents list names numerous people - including of political figures, businessmen, celebrities and sport stars - who have created secret shell companies and offshore accounts in tax havens (possibly in an effort to avoid tax obligations).

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo decided that the Masela liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant will be constructed onshore. Masela, located in the Arafura Sea (Moluccas), is Indonesia's largest deep-water gas project. Previously, Japan-based oil company Inpex Corp and Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell proposed to construct the LNG plant offshore (which would have made it the world's largest floating LNG plant). On Wednesday (23/03) President Widodo rejected the proposal after months of polemic. Contractors Inpex and Shell are not expected to withdraw from the project but will need time to adjust plans.

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo may visit the Netherlands in 2016. In an interview with Dutch newspaper "De Telegraaf" newly appointed Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja hinted at Widodo's visit to the Netherlands. Ambassador Puja informed further that more information about this possible state visit is to follow in the next couple of weeks. "You will be surprised," he was quoted saying. Reportedly, Bert Koenders, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, will visit Indonesia in the next two weeks to prepare Widodo's visit.

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A new financial management system was launched in April 2015 by the Indonesian government. This new system, called Sistem Perbendaharaan dan Anggaran Negara (abbreviated SPAN), aims to enhance public efficiency, transparency and accountability in Indonesia by managing the financial transactions of more than 24,000 government spending units in all 33 provinces. According to a new World Bank story, Indonesia's new financial system has managed to improve efficiency, transparency and accountability. Moreover, it improves budget planning and spending.

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During Indonesian President Joko Widodo's visit to Googleplex, Silicon Valley (California) - headquarters of Google, Facebook, Twitter and Plug and Play - he emphasized that the government of Indonesia is committed to push for the development of the digital economy, aiming to make it the largest in Southeast Asia, worth USD $130 billion by 2020 (including the emergence of 1,000 Indonesian technopreneurs). In this context, Widodo also requested the assistance of Google, Facebook and Plug and Play in the form of IT development education.

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After having grown rapidly in the years 2010-2013, infrastructure development in Indonesia lost its momentum in 2014. This was due to limited available government funds, uncertainty caused by the legislative and presidential elections, and the nation's slowing economic growth. After Joko Widodo became Indonesia's seventh president in October 2014, it was expected that infrastructure development would revive. However, it didn't. But Widodo made one important move by seriously reducing energy subsidies, hence making more funds available for infrastructure development.

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Merespon ekonomi global yang melambat, Presiden Joko Widodo telah mengumumkan paket kebijakan ekonomi yang baru yang bertujuan untuk mendongkrak pertumbuhan ekonomi Indonesia di tengah ketidakjelasan yang tinggi dalam konteks global. Pada hari Rabu (09/09), Joko Widodo (dikenal dengan panggilan Jokowi) memberikan sejumlah detail mengenai fase pertama ini dalam sebuah pidato di Istana Negara di Jakarta.

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo (often called Jokowi) emphasized that the government of Indonesia needs to boost development of renewable energy. Although Indonesia contains huge potential for renewable energy (particularly geothermal energy), the share of renewable energy in Indonesia’s total energy use currently stands at around 5 percent only, the remainder being fossil energy. By providing incentives, attractive tariffs and an easier licensing and registration process, the government can generate more investment in this sector.

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