With the presidential election of Indonesia (scheduled for 9 July) becoming a battle between Governor of Jakarta Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, and former army general and Suharto crony Prabowo Subianto, it is worth taking a closer look into the ideas and policies that both candidates would like to implement if elected as the next Indonesian president, as well as their stance on specific economic issues. The viewpoints that are mentioned below are based on the documents that both parties provided to the General Election Commission.

Lanjut baca ›

US multinational conglomerate General Electric (GE) is exploring possibilities to establish a regional business hub in Indonesia due to the promising perspectives of both Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia. Currently, Indonesia is the largest market for GE in Southeast Asia, accounting for roughly 30 percent of the company's revenue in this region (but Indonesia's regional peers are developing rapidly as well). However, GE Indonesia CEO Handry Satriago said that human resources form a problem.

Lanjut baca ›

Indonesian vice president Boediono stated at the opening of the two-day Green Infrastructure Summit in Jakarta (29/04) that Indonesia's heavily subsidized energy prices might be the key reason why the country has failed to make its development policy more environment friendly. According to Boediono, a national consensus - involving the central and regional governments, businesses, lawmakers and other stakeholders - is needed to systematically curb Indonesia's large energy subsidies.

Lanjut baca ›

On 06 April 2014, Indonesia Investments released the latest edition of its newsletter. This free newsletter, which is sent to our subscribers once per week, contains the most important news stories from Indonesia that have been reported on our website in the last seven days. Most of the topics involve economic matters such as an analysis of March inflation and the February trade balance, the 2014 legislative election, a toll road construction tender, a possible dispute between Japan and Indonesia, Jakarta´s Giant Sea Wall, and more.

Lanjut baca ›

Pembangunan Perumahan (PP), an Indonesia-based government-controlled construction and investment company, plans to list its subsidiary PP Properti on the Indonesia Stock Exchange through an initial public offering (IPO). The subsidiary is expected to list 30 percent of its shares on the stock exchange and aims to raise between IDR 1.2 and 1.5 trillion (roughly USD $119 million) through this corporate action. The IPO is planned to be conducted in the first quarter of 2015. The possible lead underwriters are Mandiri Sekuritas and Bahana Securities.

Lanjut baca ›

On 30 March 2014, Indonesia Investments released the latest edition of its newsletter. This free newsletter, which is sent to our subscribers once per week, contains the most important news stories from Indonesia that have been reported on our website in the last seven days. Most of the topics involve economic matters such as the rupiah exchange rate, a prognosis of March inflation, the legislative election, the introduction of a new stock portfolio, an oil refinery tender, infrastructure, and more.

Lanjut baca ›

In the past ten years, Indonesia has seen its toll roads expand by about 300 kilometers only. In 2004, the total length of the country's toll road network was 611 kilometers. In 2014, it reached a length of 918 kilometers. This slow growth of toll road development is alarming as the lack of quality and quantity of infrastructure is one of the major bottlenecks for Indonesia's economic development. (as subsequent high logistics costs put off investors). The difficulty of land acquisition is possibly the most notorious stumbling-block for infrastructure development.

Lanjut baca ›

Chatib Basri, the Finance Minister of Indonesia, said that the government will focus more on infrastructure development in order to support the third economic policy package which was announced last week by Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs Hatta Rajasa. Previously, in August and December 2013, the government had already implemented two policy reform packages aimed at safeguarding financial stability as the country had been plagued by a wide current account deficit, high inflation, large capital outflows and sharp rupiah depreciation.

Lanjut baca ›

Indonesia has been hit by a number of severe natural disasters in the first two months of 2014. The volcanic eruptions of Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra (which started late last year but still continues today although having become less active) and Mount Kelud in East Java led to a total of 20 casualties, hundreds of thousands of evacuees and damaged infrastructure and crops. Moreover, due to torrential rains amid a peak of the rainy season, severe floods ravaged a number of Indonesian regions and cities (particularly Jakarta and Manado).

Lanjut baca ›

Colin Crooks, Deputy Head of the European Union delegation to Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and ASEAN, said that Europe's businesses are eager to invest in Indonesia. However, the European Union (EU) hopes that several issues that are blocking the Indonesian economy (particularly related to trade and investments) from growing further are dealt with. Crooks pointed at EuroCham's position papers, which discuss bottlenecks to Indonesia's investment climate and provides recommendations for its improvement.

Lanjut baca ›

It has been more than a week since the Indonesian government raised its subsidized fuel prices (Pertalite, Pertamax, and automotive diesel fuel) by an average of slightly over 26 percent. One of the most interesting things is to see whether this decision leads to overall growing prices in Indonesian society. After all, fuel is crucial for the movement of goods and services, and has a significant impact on logistics costs.

Lanjut baca ›

When writing this introduction, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (also known as COP26) had just started in Glasgow (Scotland). Indonesian President Joko Widodo is among the delegates who is slated to speech about the importance of preventing – and adapting to – climate change, and to seek ways to obtain climate financing as Indonesia is unable to finance the huge and costly energy transition by itself.

Lanjut baca ›

On 30 September 2021 Indonesia’s House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR) approved the 2022 State Budget (Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Negara, APBN) that had previously been proposed by the cabinet. And with 14.2 percent of total government spending being reserved for infrastructure development in the 2022 State Budget, the Indonesian government confirms that it remains committed to much-needed infrastructure development.

Lanjut baca ›

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have existed for many decades around the world. By establishing a SWF – and inject capital into the SWF – governments can strengthen their national economies and generate wealth for future generations. In fact, a SWF is essentially a state-owned investment fund typically funded using excess capital.

Lanjut baca ›

As regards Indonesia’s investment and business environment, there were a couple of interesting developments in February 2021. These were developments that – in our opinion – help to strengthen the economy of Indonesia in a fundamental way, albeit it will take a few years (as well as the assistance of other reforms) to fully enjoy the fruits of this labor.

Lanjut baca ›

On 28 August 2020 Indonesian President Joko Widodo officially opened Yogyakarta International Airport (YIA), a brand new airport that is located in Kulon Progo in the Special Region of Yogyakarta; a region known as one of Indonesia’s main tourism centers. Many in fact call Yogyakarta the ‘heart and soul of Indonesia’.

Lanjut baca ›

Those who have visited Indonesia should be well aware of the lack of infrastructure development across the country. Those who have been in urban centers (such as the capital city of Jakarta, Bandung or Surabaya) must have had the experience of being stuck in traffic as the number of road users (mostly cars and motorcycles) outpaces available road surface.

Lanjut baca ›

Across the world, concern over the COVID-19 pandemic grew in September 2020 as the number of new COVID-19 cases continued to rise rapidly. Worldwide, at the end of September 2020, some 34 million people have been infected with the virus, while more than one million people have died after contracting the virus.

Lanjut baca ›

One characteristic of the Indonesian economy is that the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) play an important role in this USD $1.0 trillion economy. They not only play an important role because some of them rank among Indonesia’s biggest companies (in terms of profit, sales and assets), thereby generating plenty of money for the government (in the form of tax revenue or dividend) while at the same time creating jobs for millions of Indonesians.

Lanjut baca ›

On 25 September 2019, only a few days before Indonesia’s House of Representatives (in Indonesian: Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, or DPR) finished its 2014-2019 term, it approved the 2020 State Budget bill (UU APBN 2020).

Lanjut baca ›