Below is a list with tagged columns and company profiles.
Latest Reports COVID-19
In January 2022 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced it, again, revised its outlook for Indonesia’s economic growth. The Washington-based institution cut its forecast for growth in 2022 from 5.9 percent year-on-year (y/y) to 5.6 percent (y/y).
On 17 January 2022 Statistics Indonesia (BPS) released the latest trade data of Indonesia. The data show that Indonesian exports remained high (near record-high territory) in December 2021, while imports into Indonesia even managed to set a new all-time record (with a huge jump in imports of raw materials and consumer goods suggesting that economic activity is strong, although this could be a temporary phenomenon in the context of Christmas and New Year festivities).
When – at the start of January 2022 – we heard Firman Bakri, Executive Director of the Indonesian Footwear Association (Asosiasi Persepatuan Indonesia, Aprisindo), say that Indonesia’s footwear exports are expected to hit an all-time high in full-year 2021, it caught us by surprise.
It is time to turn our attention to tax, again, as we detected a number of interesting developments in Indonesia (related to tax) over the past couple of months. First of all, something that is quite rare, Indonesia managed to collect more tax revenue in full-year 2021 than it targeted in the 2021 State Budget (APBN 2021).
The tourism industry is among the most heavily disrupted industries in the COVID-19 crisis as restrictions made it difficult (sometimes even impossible) to travel while various tourist destinations had to close temporarily. Moreover, we assume that the psychological impact of the crisis on people is bigger than estimated (implying that people become less willing to travel to distant locations, in particular to emerging economies where healthcare is generally not at world-class standards).
On Thursday (06.01.2022) Indonesia Investments released the December 2021 edition of its monthly report. This report discusses a range of subjects - related to political developments, the economy and social matters - that were important and influential issues in Indonesia in the month of December 2021.
On 31 October 2021, Indonesian President Joko Widodo was handed a hammer by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. And it was a hammer and transaction with great symbolic value because it symbolized the transfer of the Group of Twenty (or G20) presidency from Italy to Indonesia.
Those who follow Indonesian politics and/or the Indonesian economy should know that November is the month in which new minimum wages are determined for the following year. It involves the minimum wages for the provinces (propinsi), districts (kabupaten), and cities (kota).
Over the past decade or so many analysts – including us – have pointed out that the structural deficit in Indonesia’s current account balance is a serious weakness.
Indonesia’s October 2021 export performance was impressive. Based on the latest data from Statistics Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik, BPS), Indonesia exported USD $22.03 billion worth of goods in October 2021, thereby setting a new all-time record high.
Latest Columns COVID-19
For more than a year now, small-scale studies from around the world suggest that a medicine called Ivermectin (which is actually used to treat various types of parasite infestations) is effective to combat COVID-19, both in a prophylactic (prevention) and therapeutic (treatment) setting.
The COVID-19 pandemic made governments around the world impose severe social and business restrictions, thus contributing heavily to the unprecedented decline in economic activity. To maintain society’s support, governments subsequently had to spend heavily on social assistance, soft loans, and various fiscal incentives to keep most businesses alive and allow poorer segments of society to have enough to eat.
On 1 July 2021 Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced emergency measures (in Indonesian: Pemberlakukan Pembatasan Kegiatan Masyarakat Darurat, or PPKM Darurat, which roughly translates to the Enforcement of Restrictions on Activities in Society) in a renewed effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Right at the very start of July 2021, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced ‘emergency measures’ (in Indonesian called Pemberlakukan Pembatasan Kegiatan Masyarakat Darurat, or PPKM Darurat, which roughly translates to the Enforcement of Restrictions on Activities in Society) in a renewed effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia.
Although there is plenty of opposition to – and criticism on – Indonesia for allowing crude palm oil (or CPO) to play a big role in the domestic economy (Indonesia being the world’s largest producer and exporter of CPO), the country is currently feeling the windfall from soaring CPO prices. And, it is contributing to Indonesia’s recovery from the severe – and still ongoing – novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.
For Indonesia, the month of April 2021 was particularly dominated by the arrival of Ramadan, the holy fasting month for the Muslim community. From the evening of 12 April 2021 Muslims fast (typically from sunrise to sunset) up to 12 May 2021. It is also known as a period of intensified praying and reading the Qur’an for the Muslim community as well as higher focus on generosity.
The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) decided to leave its interest rates unchanged at the two-day monetary policy meeting that ended on 20 April 2021. The benchmark BI Seven-Day Reverse Repo Rate was held at 3.50 percent, while the deposit facility and lending facility rates were kept at 2.75 percent and 4.25 percent, respectively.
We detected a very positive development over the past two months. The number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indonesia continued to decline heavily, a trend that began at the very start of February 2021. While on 1 February 2021, a total of 10,994 new COVID-19 infections were found, this number has almost halved as we enter April 2021 (see the chart below).
The other day, I had a conversation with my neighbors – a married couple who run a bakery and café in the city center of Yogyakarta. From previous conversations I knew that their business is heavily affected by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Even up to the point that they had to find a cheaper school for their oldest daughter.
As regards Indonesia’s investment and business environment, there were a couple of interesting developments in February 2021. These were developments that – in our opinion – help to strengthen the economy of Indonesia in a fundamental way, albeit it will take a few years (as well as the assistance of other reforms) to fully enjoy the fruits of this labor.
