Below is a list with tagged columns and company profiles.

Today's Headlines ASEAN Economic Community

  • Political Stability Needed in East Asia to Enhance Higher Economic Growth

    The start of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 will turn the ASEAN region into a strong economic block. However, the region should enhance political stability and foster economic justice. These are the two basic conclusions drawn in the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Manila (the Philippines) on Thursday (22/05). This forum is a meeting place for state leaders, global businesses, politicians as well as scholars. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was one of the attendees.

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  • Export Target of Indonesia's Fishery Sector Revised on Weak Demand

    The Indonesian government has revised its export target for fishery products in 2014 to USD $5.1 billion from USD $5.65 billion. This downward revision has been decided because several export markets, including the United States and Europe, still experience difficulties on their path towards economic recovery, thereby reducing demand for Indonesian fishery products. Although revised, the new target is still much higher than export realization in 2013 when USD $4.2 billion worth of fishery products were exported from Indonesia.

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  • More Room for Foreign Investment in Indonesia's Insurance Sector

    Following the enactment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) will allow foreign insurance corporations to open a branch office in Indonesia. The AEC will transform the ASEAN region into a region with free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour, as well as a freer flow of capital. Currently, foreign insurance corporations are prohibited from opening a branch in Indonesia unless it is in the form of a joint venture company with a 80 percent foreign ownership limit.

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  • Bank Indonesia Sees No Room for Lower Interest Rate Anytime Soon

    Indonesia's central bank (Bank Indonesia) has sent a clear signal to those market participants that hope to see a lower benchmark interest rate (BI rate) in Southeast Asia's largest economy in the near future. Governor of Bank Indonesia Agus Martowardojo stated that there will be no lower BI rate as long as there is looming global uncertainty. On the contrary, the possibility of another BI rate hike is still there. In 2013, Bank Indonesia raised its BI rate on five occassions in order to combat inflation and curb the country's wide current account deficit.

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  • Indonesia's Preparations Start ASEAN Economic Community 78% Completed

    Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said that Indonesia's preparations for the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in late 2015 are currently for 78 percent completed. The AEC aims to enhance regional economic integration among the ASEAN member states. It will transform the ASEAN region into one with free movement of goods, services, investment, and skilled labour, as well as a freer flow of capital. Most important is to develop Indonesia's infrastructure in order to foster connectivity, thus reducing logistics costs.

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  • Aviation Industry in Indonesia: What are Indonesia's Top Airlines?

    The aviation industry in the Asia-Pacific region has shown robust growth in recent years. This region is one of the world's fastest growing regions in terms of air travel. In the next 20 years, an average annual seven percent growth of air traffic is expected. Indonesia, the current engine of economic growth in Southeast Asia and one of the largest economies in the Asia-Pacific, contains a burgeoning middle class that is increasingly using airplanes for domestic as well as international transport.

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  • Indonesia as ASEAN's Low Cost Green Car Production Base Meets Opposition

    With the development of a production hub for low cost green cars (LCGCs), Indonesia hopes to become the leading car producer within the group of ASEAN nations. Total car sales in ASEAN in 2012 surpassed the three million cars mark. The two largest contributors to these sales were Thailand (1.3 million sold cars) and Indonesia (1.1 million). Currently, Thailand is still the largest car production hub in the ASEAN region, both in terms of production rate and domestic sales (despite having only 60 million citizens to Indonesia's 240 million).

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  • Ministry of Transportation: Moratorium on Issuance of Airline Permits

    Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation has issued a temporary moratorium on the issuance of permits for the establishment of new airlines in Indonesia. A spokesman of the Ministry said that airports will become too crowded if more applications are approved. Overcrowded airports will result in more flight delays and entails risks for safety. An increase in flight frequency of already established airlines is still permitted. The Ministry is also concerned that if more permits are issued, current rife competition between airlines will intensify.

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  • Indonesian Airliner Merpati Nusantara Offers 35% of its Shares to Investors

    State-owned airline Merpati Nusantara Airlines will sell between 30 and 35 percent of its shares to domestic or foreign investors. The government feels the need to sell a stake as the airline has a debt of about IDR 6 trillion (USD $603 million). Most of this debt, about IDR 4 trillion, is held in Indonesia (government and state-owned enterprises). As such, the company is in need of new funds to restructure its business model. Last year, the airline carried 2.1 million passengers.

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  • Indonesia Launches Committee to Prepare for ASEAN Economic Community

    In order to be fully prepared for the start of the ASEAN Economic Community in late 2015, the Indonesian government has formed a national committee that will provide analysis, evaluations as well as recommendations to the government. Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced plans to set up this committee in April. He stated that the committee will include representatives from the government, entrepreneurs, analysts and members of the public.

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Latest Columns ASEAN Economic Community

  • Corn Production & Consumption in Indonesia: Aiming for Self-Sufficiency

    Corn is among the four strategic commodities that receive special attention in the blueprint of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The AEC’s food blueprint aims to enhance food security & sovereignty of corn, rice, soybeans and cassava in the ASEAN region. Indonesia is currently the region’s largest corn producer. However, Indonesian corn consumption continues to outpace domestic corn production, resulting in a deficit. This column provides an overview of Indonesia’s corn sector in the context of the AEC.

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  • Aviation Industry Indonesia: ASEAN Open Skies, Challenges & Opportunities

    In line with the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of the year, the ASEAN Open Skies policy (also known as the ASEAN Single Aviation Market) should become fully effective later this year. The ASEAN Open Skies policy, a key component of the AEC, involves the multilateral agreement of all ten ASEAN countries to unite their skies into a single aviation market (hence liberalizing rules and regulations to a large degree) in a bid to boost the region’s economic growth.

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  • Manufacturing in Indonesia: Key to Boost Export Performance

    One of the key strategies to improve the economic fundamentals of Indonesia is to restructure and strengthen the country’s exports. This restructuring involves the transformation of Indonesian exports from being dominated by (raw) commodities to manufactured exports by developing downstream industries in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, including import substitution industrialization in order to curb the country’s demand for imported products amid Indonesians’ rising purchasing power.

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  • Indonesia & Malaysia Support Banking Integration in ASEAN Region

    Bank Indonesia (the central bank of Indonesia) and the Financial Services Authority (OJK) signed an agreement (the ASEAN Banking Integration Framework, abbreviated ABIF) with Malaysia’s central bank to support banking integration in the ASEAN region. The website of Bank Indonesia states that ABIF “provides an operating framework for ASEAN member states to implement principles and the integration process in the banking sector to support the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) [which is to be implemented later this year]”.

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  • World Bank: East Asian Economies Expected to Grow Stably in 2014

    According to the latest East Asia Pacific Economic Update - the World Bank’s comprehensive review of the region’s economies which was released today (07/04) - developing countries in the East Asia Pacific region will see stable economic growth this year, bolstered by a recovery in high-income economies and the market’s modest response so far to the Federal Reserve’s tapering of its quantitative easing. Developing East Asia will grow by 7.1 percent this year, largely unchanged from 2013.

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  • Tourism in Indonesia: Terrorism, Infrastructure and Asean Common Visa

    Tourism in Indonesia has posted impressive growth rates in recent years. This development is due to the fact that Indonesia has plenty of beautiful sites and cultural traditions to offer to foreign (and domestic) tourists, improved airline accessibility to Indonesia, and enhanced focus on promotional campaigns in foreign countries. Lastly, and not unimportantly, there have been no violent terrorist attacks in recent years. In the 2000s, a vicious terrorist attack always resulted in a temporary drop in foreign tourist arrivals.

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  • MP3EI Update Indonesia: Total Investments Reach USD $51.6B in 2014

    Total realized investments in the context of the government's Masterplan for Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia's Economic Development (MP3EI) will reach IDR 628.9 trillion (USD $51.6 billion) in 2014. The MP3EI was unveiled by the Indonesian government in May 2011 to accelerate its ambitious goal of becoming one of the world's largest economies by 2025. This masterplan particularly focuses on (much-needed) infrastructure development by cooperating with the private sector (for example through public-private partnerships).

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  • Indonesia Opens New Kuala Namu International Airport in North Sumatra

    The public and private sector in Indonesia is well aware that the lack of quality and quantity of Indonesia's infrastructure is one of the matters that hamper the economic development of the country. For that reason, the central government implemented the Masterplan to Accelerate and Expand Economic Development (MP3EI) in Indonesia, which foresees large investments in the country's infrastructure. Although results are not satisfying yet, the government is proud to have opened a new airport in North Sumatra.

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