• New Macroeconomic Assumptions in Indonesia's Revised State Budget

    After a long plenary session on Monday (17/06), Indonesia's House of Representatives (DPR) and the government have agreed to the revised 2013 State Budget (APBN-P). The revision was needed as original macroeconomic assumptions began to fall out of tune with reality. Due to global and domestic conditions a number of assumptions needed to revised down. Most controversial decision that was taken is the increase in price of subsidized fuel by 44 percent to IDR 6,500 (USD $0.66) per liter.

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  • Indonesia's House of Representatives Approves Price Hike Subsidized Fuel

    Late on Monday evening (17/06), the increase in the price of subsidized fuel, as stated in Law No. 19/2012, was approved by Indonesia's House of Representatives (DPR) through a voting session as political parties could not agree collectively on the price hike as well as on cash programs for the poor to mitigate effects of the higher fuel price. Demonstrations against the price hike were staged in various regions. In Medan (North Sumatra), Jambi (Central Sumatra) and Ternate (North Moluccas), it led to clashes between the police force and protestors.

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  • No Decision Yet on Price Increase Indonesia's Subsidized Fuel

    The plenary session of Indonesia's House of Representatives (DPR) is still ongoing as the various political parties could not agree yet on the increase in the price of subsidized fuel. Five political parties agree to the price hike, while four others have rejected it. If the political parties can not agree to the proposal, then it will be decided by individual voting starting from midnight (Indonesian time). The price hike has been long awaited as a measure to relieve pressure on Indonesia's budget deficit.

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  • Car and Motorcycle Sales of Astra International Grow over Eight Percent

    Astra International, one of the largest diversified conglomerates and the dominating force in Indonesia's automobile industry, sold 268,072 cars in the first five months of 2013. Total car units sold in the same period stands at 497,670, which implies that Astra has a market share of 54 percent. Sales in January-May 2013 grew 8.47 percent compared to the same period in 2012. Astra's motorcycles sales grew 11.6 percent to 1,974,274 units. As such, Astra, which sells the Honda brand, has a 60 percent market share in Indonesia's motorcycle industry.

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