• Alcohol-Free Beer in Indonesia: Strategy to Comply with Rules

    When the government of Indonesia banned the sale of alcoholic beverages in minimarkets and kiosks in early 2015 in an effort to “protect the morals and culture of Indonesian society”, it came as a shock to alcoholic beverage producers. Although alcoholic drinks are still allowed to be sold in the larger supermarkets, restaurants, cafes and hotels, sales of beer plunged as the beverage was banned in the (estimated) 70,000 minimarkets that have become a very popular shopping place in the urban areas of Indonesia.

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  • Why Did Indonesian Stocks and Rupiah Weaken Today?

    Contrary to expectations, Indonesian stocks and the rupiah had a weak start of the new year. On Monday (04/01) Indonesia's benchmark Jakarta Composite Index fell 1.46 percent to 4,525.92 points, while the Indonesian rupiah depreciated 0.82 percent to IDR 13,943 per US dollar (Bloomberg Dollar Index). The performance of Indonesian stocks is in line with the performance of stocks around the globe. In China stock trading was even halted twice due to its plunging index. What happened today?

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  • Consumer Price Index Indonesia: Inflation 0.96% in December; 3.35% in 2015

    Indonesia's inflation figure in December 2015 was higher than expected at 0.96 percent month-on-month (m/m). The monthly inflation rate was high due to rising prices of food and transportation caused by the Christmas and New Year celebrations. Nevertheless, Indonesia's annual inflation rate fell to the lowest level since 2010 as the impact of the November 2014 subsidized fuel price hike vanished from the annual inflation figure, hence inflation realization falling well below the government target (5 percent) and the central bank's target range (3 - 5 percent) in 2015.

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  • Manufacturing Industry Indonesia Contracts for 15th Straight Month

    The latest survey from Nikkei showed that Indonesia's manufacturing sector contracted for the 15th straight month. In the last month of 2015 factory activity in Indonesia showed a reading of 47.8, improving from a reading of 46.9 in November but remaining stubbornly below the 50.0 level that separates contraction from expansion. Since October 2014 Indonesia's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) has been in contraction.

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