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.
On 5 July 2022 Indonesia Investments released the June 2022 edition of its monthly report. In this report we analyze the latest (and most relevant) economic, political and social news from Indonesia.
Over the past years we have mentioned on several occasions that the electric vehicle is the automotive industry’s future thanks to three key inter-related circumstances: (1) recent rapid technological developments that allow the electric vehicle battery to be more energy efficient, (2) the world’s eagerness to move away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy, and (3) rising political support for the development of an efficient and conducive regulatory ecosystem for the electric vehicle industry.
As expected, Indonesia’s export performance was heavily disrupted by the palm oil export ban (that was imposed by the Indonesian government between 28 April and 23 May 2022 to stabilize the domestic cooking oil prices). Compared to the previous month, exports of animal/vegetable fats and oils (which include palm oil products) tumbled by a whopping USD $2.1 billion in May 2022.
The Indonesian government’s energy subsidy spending has always been a topic of controversy. By keeping fuel and electricity prices low the central government aims to support the Indonesian people as well as the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as – indeed – poverty remains a big problem in Indonesia; a country where nearly ten percent of the population lives below the national poverty line (which is 26.5 million individuals in absolute terms).
