The Today's Headlines section of Indonesia Investments is a regularly updated section which contains the latest information with regard to topics that are currently causing headlines in Indonesia's media. Most of our headlines 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.
Indonesia's House of Representatives (DPR) approved the government's proposed 2018 state budget bill in a plenary session on Wednesday (25/10), hence turning the bill into law. Taufik Kurniawan, Deputy House Speaker, announced this decision earlier today.
Several big state-controlled banks in Indonesia posted double-digit profit growth in the third quarter of 2017, extending the positive corporate performance that was posted by these banks in the preceding quarters. This performance comes on the back of sliding reserves in line with rising credit growth, an improvement in the quality of banks' loans and lower non-performing loan (NPL) ratios.
Starting from the end of October 2017, Indonesian retail company Mitra Adiperkasa will close all of its Lotus Department Store outlets as the department store chain fails to contribute positively to the corporate earnings of the listed company. Mitra Adiperkasa is currently restructuring its department store business segment in an effort to reduce the company's operational costs.
The latest series of (conventional) Indonesian Retail Bonds (in Indonesian: Obligasi Ritel Indonesia, or ORI) was poorly absorbed by Indonesian retail investors. According to the latest available data, only IDR 8.95 trillion (approx. USD $663 million) was invested in the ORI014 series that was on sale between 29 September and 19 October 2017.
