Below is a list with tagged columns and company profiles.
Latest Reports Inflation
On Sunday (04.02.2024) Indonesia Investments released the January 2024 edition of its monthly report. The report offers analyses of various economic, political and social topics that are relevant in the present.
On Friday 5 January 2024 Indonesia Investments released the December 2023 edition of its monthly report. The report informs readers on the latest -and in our opinion most relevant- economic, political and social developments in Indonesia.
Interestingly enough, November was the month that – so far – brought the biggest inflationary pressures to Indonesia in 2023. The latest data published by Indonesia’s Statistical Office (Badan Pusat Statistik, BPS) showed that headline inflation reached 0.38 percent month-on-month (m/m) in November 2023, higher than expected.
On Tuesday 5 December 2023 Indonesia Investments released the November 2023 edition of its monthly report. The report informs readers on the latest - and in our opinion most relevant - economic, political and social developments in Indonesia.
Inflationary pressures in October 2023 were in line with our expectations. Based on the latest data from Indonesia’s Statistical Office (Badan Pusat Statistik, BPS), Indonesia’s headline inflation was recorded at a rate of 0.17 percent month-on-month (m/m) in October 2023. On an annual basis, inflation accelerated to 2.56 percent year-on-year (y/y), up from 2.28 percent (y/y) in September 2023.
On Sunday 5 November 2023 Indonesia Investments released the October 2023 edition of its monthly report. The report informs readers on the latest - and in our opinion most relevant - economic, political and social developments in Indonesia.
As expected, inflationary pressures increased on a month-on-month (m/m) basis in September 2023. However, on a year-on-year (y/y) basis, Indonesian inflation eased quite significantly as the impact of the subsidized fuel price hike in September 2022 is now removed from the data. Based on the data from Indonesia’s Statistical Office (BPS), Indonesia’s headline inflation decelerated to a rate of 2.28 percent (y/y).
In line with our forecast, Indonesia recorded mild deflation in August 2023. Based on the latest data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) Indonesian deflation was recorded at 0.02 percent month-on-month (m/m) in August 2023. But because deflation was milder than last year, Indonesia’s annual inflation accelerated to 3.27 percent (y/y).
On Thursday (07.09.2023) Indonesia Investments released the August 2023 edition of its monthly report. The report discusses a selection of key economic, political and social developments that were relevant in Indonesia in the month of August 2023.
Again, Indonesia experienced another month characterized by low inflation. Based on the latest data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Indonesian inflation was recorded at 0.21 percent month-on-month (m/m) in July 2023, significantly lower than the 0.64 percent (m/m) that was recorded in the same month one year earlier.
Latest Columns Inflation
As usual, we devote our first article to the Indonesian economy. But before we zoom in on the latest macroeconomic data of Indonesia, we first provide some context by discussing the global economy.
Before turning our attention to the economy of Indonesia, it is important to take a closer look at the global economy first. Fortunately, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) just released a new update (called the OECD Economic Outlook, Interim Report September 2022) and so it’s certainly worthwhile to take a look at its conclusions.
In the second half of September 2022 the Indonesian rupiah experienced some steep depreciating pressures, nearly touching IDR 15,300 per US dollar. It prompted Bank Indonesia to step and intervene in markets to limit the currency’s decline; a step that typically leads to a drop in the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
Indonesia’s central bank (Bank Indonesia) – finally – decided to raise its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.75 percent after concluding its two-day policy meeting on 23 August 2022, thereby joining the global wave of rate hikes as central banks need to combat accelerated inflation, while –especially in emerging markets – higher rates also function to prevent too much capital outflows as US assets become more attractive amid aggressive US Federal Reserve tightening.
What came as a surprise to us is that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) decided to raise its projection for Indonesia’s economic growth in full 2022 from 5.0 percent year-on-year (y/y) to 5.2 percent (y/y) in July 2022. This decision was substantiated in its Asian Development Outlook 2022 Supplement entitled Recovery Faces Diverse Challenges.
We were surprised to learn that Indonesia’s central bank (Bank Indonesia) decided to leave its interest rates unchanged at the two-day monetary policy meeting on 23-24 May 2022. The benchmark BI 7-Day Reverse Repo Rate was kept at 3.50 percent, while the deposit facility and lending facility rates were maintained at 2.75 percent and 4.25 percent, respectively. We had expected Bank Indonesia to raise its key rate by 0.25 percent to 3.75 percent at this occasion.
With the Ramadan month just having started, it is important to take a look at food prices in Indonesia. The Ramadan-Idul Fitri period is typically a period when prices rise amid a significant increase in demand.
It came as a big surprise to us when the central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) announced on 19 November 2020 (the day it concluded its two-day monetary policy meeting) that it decided to cut its benchmark interest rate (the seven-day reverse repo rate) by 25 basis points to 3.75 percent. Bank Indonesia also cut its deposit facility and lending facility rates by 25 basis points to 3.00 percent and 4.50 percent, respectively.
The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) decided to cut its benchmark interest rate ("BI seven-day reverse repo rate") by 25 basis points (bps) to 4.75 percent at the two-day policy meeting on 19 and 20 February 2020.
On Monday 1 July 2019 Statistics Indonesia (BPS) released Indonesia’s latest inflation data. The data show that headline inflation in Southeast Asia’s largest economy eased to a level of 0.55 percent month-on-month (m/m) in June 2019, down from 0.68 percent (m/m) in May 2019 when price pressures peaked due to Ramadan and Lebaran celebrations. This period always gives rise to a significant boost in consumption, hence prices of foodstuffs peak. Meanwhile, people also tend to buy new clothes, bags and shoes because they want to look good at these celebrations.
