17 December 2018 (closed)
USD/IDR (14,523) -94.00 -0.64%
EUR/IDR (16,490) -40.96 -0.25%
Jakarta Composite Index (6,089.31) -80.54 -1.31%
The Today's Headlines section of Indonesia Investments is a daily updated section which contains the latest information with regard to topics that are currently causing headlines in Indonesia's media. Most of our headlines will cover political, economic and social matters. As a consequence of their recent nature, these topics may not have crystallized fully yet and can, therefore, lack a profound analysis. For publications with a more in-depth understanding of subjects, we refer you to our News, Financial or Business columns.
Concern about Indonesia's Q4-2018 current account deficit as well as the value of the rupiah exchange rate should increase now the country posted a big USD $2.05 billion monthly trade deficit in November 2018. It is the highest monthly trade deficit for Southeast Asia's largest economy since July 2013.
On Sunday 16 December 2018 Indonesia and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which consists of non-EU member countries Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland, signed the Indonesia-EFTA Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The signing ceremony, which was held in Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta, effectively ends nearly eight years of negotiations between both sides.
After years of struggle the outlook for Indonesia's ceramic industry looks a bit more positive now. In recent years Indonesia's domestic ceramic industry has been plagued by subdued growth in Indonesia's property sector, while there also emerged increasing competition from Chinese counterparts (who are facing a structural ceramic oversupply at home and therefore, aggressively, try to penetrate the Southeast Asian market by offering their ceramic products at attractive rates).
Recently GrabFood, the food delivery service of Singapore-based technology company Grab, said it delivered more than 13 million ayam geprek meals across the 116 Indonesian cities where the ride-hailing app is active. Ayam geprek is therefore the most popular meal in Indonesia that is ordered by the consumer (using the delivery service app of Grab; but we would not be surprised if ayam geprek is also consumers' favorite order among Go-Food users).
