Although consumer confidence among Indonesian consumers remained relatively high, there has been a decline detected in 2015. Consumer optimism has fallen as Indonesia’s economy is growing at its slowest pace in six years due to worldwide low commodity prices (giving rise to Indonesia’s weak export performance), China's economic slowdown, uneven recoveries in the US and Europe, while spending of the Indonesian government remained weak (amid bureaucratic hurdles and difficult land acquisition for projects).

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Again, Indonesia’s rupiah is touching the IDR 13,400 per US dollar psychological boundary. According to the Bloomberg Dollar Index, Indonesia’s currency had depreciated 0.22 percent to IDR 13,405 per US dollar at 11:22 am local Jakarta time on Thursday (23/07), a level last seen when the country was still plagued by the Asian Financial Crisis in 1998. Crossing the psychological boundary could mean Indonesia’s central bank (Bank Indonesia) will intervene again to support the currency in order to safeguard people’s confidence in the currency.

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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced that it cut its 2015 and 2016 economic growth forecasts for both China and other developing Asian countries due to the persistent economic slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy. China’s economic expansion is projected to reach 7 percent (y/y) in 2015 and 6.8 percent (y/y) in 2016. Both these outlooks were down 0.2 percentage point from the ADB’s previous projection. Due to the size of China’s economy, economic slowing will drag down growth in the whole Asian region.

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As expected Indonesia's central bank (Bank Indonesia) refrained from adjusting its interest rate regime at Tuesday’s Board of Governor’s meeting (14/07). The key BI rate was kept at 7.50 percent, while the overnight deposit rate (Fasbi) and lending facility rate were left at 5.50 percent and 8.00 percent, respectively. Bank Indonesia believes that the current interest rate environment is in line with its efforts to bring down inflation while supporting Indonesia’s ailing rupiah ahead of expected further monetary tightening in the USA later this year.

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In line with expectation and the historic trend, Indonesia’s car sales rose - on a monthly basis - in June 2015 ahead of the Idul Fitri celebrations (that mark the end of the Islamic holy fasting month). Car sales in Indonesia usually increase ahead of Idul Fitri (also known as Lebaran), a tradition which involves the exodus of millions of Indonesians from the cities to their places of origin. Before the journey to the villages a portion of these travelers are eager to buy a new car, a decision often influenced by promotional campaigns and discount programs.

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its forecast for global economic growth in 2015 to 3.3 percent (y/y), from 3.5 percent (y/y) previously, as the harsh winter impacted on the US economy and drags down global growth accordingly. In the first quarter of 2015, the US economy contracted 0.2 percent (y/y). Moreover, turmoil in Greece and China cause great volatility on international financial markets, the Washington-based institution said in an update to its World Economic Outlook (WEO) on Thursday (09/07).

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The World Bank cut its forecast for economic growth in Indonesia in 2015 from 5.2 percent year-on-year (y/y) to 4.7 percent (y/y) as private consumption, which accounts for about 55 percent of total economic growth in Indonesia, is estimated to weaken further in the second half of 2015 while government spending has been lower than expected (causing subdued fixed investment). Furthermore, persistent low commodity prices and tighter credit conditions provide further pressures that led to the extreme downward revision.

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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has revised its economic growth forecast for Indonesia in 2015 from 5.2 percent year-on-year (y/y) to 5 percent (y/y). During a press conference on Tuesday (07/07) in Jakarta, Edimon Ginting, Deputy Country Director for Indonesia of the Philippines-based ADB, said that there are three reasons that explain why the ADB has become less optimistic about Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2015. Last year, Indonesia’s economic growth slowed to a five-year low of 5.02 percent (y/y).

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On 5 July 2015, Indonesia Investments released the latest edition of its newsletter. This free newsletter, which is sent to our subscribers once per week, contains the most important news stories from Indonesia that have been reported on our website in the last seven days. Most of the topics involve economic subjects such an update on the new mandatory use of rupiah regulation, June inflation, the government’s economic growth target, consumer confidence, the property market, infrastructure development, and more.

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The Indonesian government revised its 2015 economic growth target. Sofyan Djalil, Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, stated on Friday (03/07) that the government’s previous target was unrealistically high at 5.8 percent (y/y) given the sluggish international and domestic economic context. The government revised down the GDP growth target of 2015 to 5.2 percent (y/y). Djalil said that the global economy is forecast to grow 2.9 percent (y/y) in 2015 from an earlier estimate of 3.5 percent (y/y).

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In line with expectations, the economic growth rate of Indonesia was recorded at the level of 5.04 percent year-on-year (y/y) in the third quarter of 2025. This is a good result as it slightly exceeded analyst expectations (in our case, we had projected a 5 percent y/y growth rate), and was also a faster growth pace than the one recorded by Indonesia in the same quarter one year earlier (4.95 percent y/y).

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In another article in this report we discuss the remarkable discrepancy between the strong (official) gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 5.12 percent year-on-year (y/y) in Q2-2025 and Indonesia’s somewhat lackluster macroeconomic data in that same quarter. This discrepancy not only surprised many, but it also made many a bit suspicious about the accuracy of the Q2-2025 GDP data that were released by the Statistical Agency of Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik, BPS).

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Those who follow our reports might be aware that we’ve been unable to obtain data regarding the foreign visitor arrivals into Indonesia since the start of 2025. The main problem seems to be that the publication of foreign tourism-related data has moved from Indonesia’s Statistical Agency (Badan Pusat Statistik, or BPS) to the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy. But, unfortunately, this ministry hasn’t released any data (related to foreign visitors in 2025) on its website (yet).

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The economic growth rate of Indonesia in the first quarter of 2025 (Q1-2025) came in slightly below our projection of 4.9 – 5.0 percent year-on-year (y/y). But, indeed, we had already detected a (general) weakening in internal and external conditions, which was reflected in the macroeconomic data of Indonesia that we discussed in our April 2025 report. And so, it was certainly not a shock.

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Indonesia’s economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2024 was slightly better than we had anticipated. Just prior to the release of Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) data on 5 February 2025 (by Badan Pusat Statistik, BPS), we revised our outlook for Indonesia’s Q4-2024 economic growth from 5.0 percent year-on-year (y/y) to the range of 4.9–5.0 percent (y/y) due to a number of weaker-than-estimated macroeconomic data.

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We are gradually approaching the first 100 days in office of the new administration in Indonesia (under the leadership of President Prabowo Subianto). Does that show in the latest economic indicators?

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As usual, we devote one article to the latest available (key) macroeconomic data in an effort to assess the state of the Indonesian economy. In the previous article in this month’s report, we discussed the 4.95 percent year-on-year (y/y) GDP growth rate of Indonesia in Q3-2024. In the article you are reading right now, we’re going to take a closer look whether the country’s economic growth can accelerate (or decelerate) in the last quarter of the year.

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On Friday (06 December 2024), Indonesia Investments released the November 2024 edition of its monthly report. It zooms in on the most relevant economic, social and political developments that occured in Indonesia in the month of November 2024.

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Before we zoom in on Indonesia, it is worth taking a closer look at the latest reports released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In its World Economic Outlook (released in October 2024), the IMF stated that global economic growth is expected to remain stable, yet underwhelming, at 3.2 percent year-on-year (y/y) in 2024.

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As usual, we look at the latest available macroeconomic data of Indonesia to assess the strength of the national economy. Those who follow this monthly article should know that we are quite optimistic about the Indonesian economy as the majority of data are showing positive trends.

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