On Monday (28/10), another large-scale demonstration took place in the center of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital city. The workers that participated in the strike demanded a new minimum wage for Jakarta's provincial government due to the country's recent high inflation rate after prices of subsidized fuels were raised in June 2013, thus curbing people's purchasing power. The workers demand for the new minimum wage of IDR 3.7 million (USD $327) per month. However, these developments can hurt the investment climate in Indonesia.

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Seeing marathons being organized in some of the world's largest cities (which gain attention from the global press), the Jakarta administration felt it could not be left behind. On Sunday 27 October 2013, the first ever marathon of Jakarta will be held, with its route passing by some of Jakarta's most famous landmarks, including the National Monument (Monas), the Istiqlal Mosque, the Cathedral Church, Old Batavia, and the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout. The Jakarta marathon also forms the first internationally-recognized marathon in Southeast Asia.

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A preliminary company profile of Metropolitan Land (MTLA) has been added to our Indonesian Companies' section. The company is an Indonesian-based real estate and property developer that focuses on residential and commercial property for Indonesia's middle-low, middle and middle-up segments of Jakarta and the areas around Jakarta that are characterized by high population growth rates. The company's real estate development includes residential houses, shop houses, condominiums, hotels, shopping malls as well as sport centers.

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Fitch Ratings, the global rating agency, expects slower growth in Indonesia's property sector for the next 12 months. However, for the longer term, the institution still maintains a positive outlook as Indonesia is characterized by high urbanization, a rapidly expanding middle class and low mortgage rates. Since the revival in 2011, the average selling price of Indonesia's residential properties increased by about 30 percent year-on-year, particularly in the Greater Jakarta area.

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According to property consulting services company Jones Lang LaSalle, Jakarta is showing the steepest increase in prices of luxury houses among several Asian cities that have been monitored. In the second quarter of 2013, prices of luxury houses in Jakarta increased 34.2 percent year on year, followed by Beijing with a 18.7 percent price growth rate. The only city that saw a depreciation of luxury house prices was Singapore (-2.1 percent). Luxury house prices in Jakarta grew nine percent compared to the first quarter of 2013.

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Indonesia's central bank expects that the country's monthly inflation rate will ease to below one percent in August. However, in order to meet this expectation the bank stresses that there needs to be an improvement in the food product supply through imports and good distribution practice. The latter, particularly, is problematic due to Indonesia's lack of quality and quantity in infrastructure. In July, monthly inflation rose 3.29 percent due to the start of the new school year and impact of higher subsidized fuel prices.

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According to Indonesia's police department, heavy traffic caused by the Idul Fitri celebrations resulted in the deaths of more than 471 people as well as 740 seriously injured people in over 2000 traffic accidents. Most accidents are caused by drivers that fall asleep during the journey. Idul Fitri marks the end of the holy fasting month (Ramadan) and is one of the major national holidays in Indonesia. This year Idul Fitri fell on Thursday 8 August and, as usual, is accompanied by the tradition that Indonesians travel back to their places of birth.

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The city center streets of Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta, which are normally characterized by heavy traffic jams, are becoming quiet. As the holy Islamic fasting month (Ramadan) is getting towards the end, people are traveling back to their places of origin for the Lebaran celebrations. This annual tradition is known as 'mudik'. Usually, the people spend a few days at their hometowns before traveling back to their places of work. This period also means that businesses (including the stock exchange) are mostly closed until 12 August 2013.

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The economy of Indonesia continues to be dominated by the island of Java, Indonesia's most populous island with around 130 million people or 60 percent of Indonesia's total population. In the second quarter of 2013, Java contributed 58.15 percent to the nation's total economic growth. Far behind Java are Sumatra (23.90 percent) and Kalimantan (8.73 percent). Within Java, the Greater Jakarta area accounts for 16.50 percent of the country's total economic growth, followed by East Java (15.21 percent) and West Java (14.05 percent).

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Indonesia's government will make a new government regulation that foresees the minimum wage increase in all 33 provinces will be kept below 20 percent in 2014. This new rule is directed to labor-intensive industries, including Indonesia's small and medium businesses. The limitation of the regional minimum wage increase to 20 percent is much lower than the demand from Indonesia's labor associations, which requested minimum wage increases up to 50 percent.

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So far East Jakarta has been left behind in terms of property development in the capital city of Indonesia. For many decades Central and South Jakarta have seen the construction of many residential property and office tower projects. Recently, West Jakarta experienced a major surge in property development. Few investors, however, dared to develop projects in East Jakarta as demand from the (upper) middle class and elite for property or offices in East Jakarta has been low.

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It is not a coincidence that ethnic, religious and social tensions have risen in Indonesia ahead of Jakarta's gubernatorial election on 15 February 2017. Indonesian Police is currently making over hours as various people, including political and religious leaders, have been reported to police for blasphemy or hate speech. One of the people that is being trialed is incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Purnama Tjahja (Ahok), who is one of the three men who compete to become the capital's next governor.

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The year 2016 was a good one in terms of foreign investment in Jakarta's residential property sector even though Indonesia's property market remained sluggish. Various foreign property developers - including China's state-owned China Communications Construction Group (CCCG), Japanese firms Mitsubishi Corporation and Tokyu Land Corporation as well as Hong Kong's HongKong Land and Malaysia's Sime Darby Group - announced to engage in big property projects (in and around the capital city of Jakarta) that have a combined value of USD $2.8 billion.

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When walking around the Taman Anggrek Mall and Central Park Mall in West Jakarta, you will see several big property projects being built: a new mall (Neo Soho Mall), apartment complexes (Neo Soho Apartments and Taman Anggrek Residences) and a new office tower (Soho Capital). In terms of property development in Indonesia, West Jakarta now seems developers' favorite location. Hari Raharta, Secretary-General of the Indonesian Real Estate Developers Association (REI), informed, however, West Jakarta has seen solid property development since the opening of the Jakarta-Tangerang toll road back in 1984.

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Foreigners who live in Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta are well aware of the horrible traffic situation. The lack of sufficient infrastructure development in combination with high car sales in recent years as well as the ever-growing population of Jakarta have resulted in complete standstills in many parts of the city, particularly on weekdays. To cover a relatively small distance in a car or taxi it can take hours, a loss of valuable time. Fortunately, there is a solution to these traffic jams.

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The Indonesian government announced that the moratorium on the construction of the grand reclamation project off the bay of Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta has been lifted. In April 2016 Indonesian President Joko Widodo suspended all activities related to the project due to alleged violations of and/or hiatuses in Indonesian law. Moreover, a corruption scandal emerged involving one of the developers of the land reclamation project and a local Jakarta councilor.

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Although development of the 17 artificial islands off the coast of Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta has been suspended (for six months) due to alleged violations of and/or hiatuses in Indonesian law, Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (known as Ahok) says he is certain that the ambitious land reclamation project will be continued after the moratorium. The construction of these 17 artificial islands is a project that is separate from (but highly integrated with) the central government's National Capital Integrated Coastal Development (NCICD) plan, better known as the Great Garuda.

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Construction of a new big infrastructure project in Indonesia has started: the Semanggi flyover in Jakarta's central business district. The project involves two additional elevated ramp roads above the existing intersection at Semanggi (hence creating an interchange). Improving the existing road infrastructure at this location is required in order to ease severe traffic congestion that occurs on working days. The project, which requires high-end technology, kicked off on Friday (08/04) and is scheduled to be completed in August 2017, ahead of the 2018 Asian Games.

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The Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI) advises investors and consumers not to purchase property (yet) on the artificial islands that form part of the grand USD $40 billion land reclamation project (National Capital Integrated Coastal Development, abbreviated NCICD, also known as the Giant Sea Wall) off the coast of North Jakarta. Most property developers - including Agung Podomoro Land - have already started to advertise (and sell) property units on these islands despite these developers are yet to obtain all necessary permits.

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The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) predicts mounting inflationary pressures in the months June and July due to the Ramadan and Idul Fitri festivities, the possible impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon, and the new school year. Bank Indonesia expects to see inflation at 0.66 percent month-to-month (m/m) in June 2015, particularly driven by volatile food prices (a normal phenomenon ahead of Idul Fitri). On a year-on-year (y/y) basis, Indonesian inflation is expected to accelerate to 7.40 percent, from 7.15 percent in May.

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