On Monday (03/03, Statistics Indonesia announced that inflation in Indonesia stood at 0.26 percent in February 2014. The largest inflationary pressures in this month were caused by higher prices of instant food products, drinks, cigarettes and tobacco. The country's February inflation rate was much lower than the 1.07 percent inflation recorded in the previous month (which was brought on by severe floods that disrupted distribution networks). Year-on-year (yoy) inflation eased to 7.75 percent from 8.22 percent in January 2014.

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Indonesia Investments updated the profile of coffee in our commodities section. Indonesia is one of the world's top coffee producing and exporting countries and thus this beverage is an important foreign exchange earner. Starting from the 1960s, Indonesia has shown a small but stable increase in domestic production of coffee. Apart from the production of regular coffee, Indonesia is famous for certain types of specialty coffee, including  luwak coffee (kopi luwak), Toraja coffee, Aceh coffee and Mandailing coffee.

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Indonesia's inflation rate in June was 1.03 percent, a significant rise compared to the previous month (deflation of 0.03 percent). Although the government's decision to increase the price of subsidized fuel in the second half of June 2013 already made an impact on the country's inflation rate, it is expected that in the next two months inflation will peak over two percent. Apart from the fuel price, other factors that will cause high inflation are the start of the holy fasting month (Ramadan), the new school year and the higher electricity rate.

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Indonesia's June inflation rate was recorded at 1.03%. Components that contributed most to this increase were food (including instant foods), drinks, tobacco and housing (gas, water and electricity). The government's decision to raise the price of subsidized fuel last month already made an impact but it is expected that this impact will be heavier in the months ahead when more prices are revised upwards. On 22 June, prices of subsidized gasoline were raised by 44%, while prices of subsidized diesel were raised by 22%.

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Triyono Prijosoesilo, Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Soft Drink Producers (Asrim), said the nation's soft drink sales market contracted in 2017 with the sales volume sliding by 1 percent year-on-year (y/y). It was the first time in his period as chairman that Indonesia's soft drink sales declined.

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The next restaurant we visited for our column series about dining in Jakarta was the Penang Bistro. This restaurant, which serves a selection of Malaysian, Singaporean and Indonesian dishes, has seven outlets in Jakarta. The outlet we visited is located in the luxurious Grand Indonesia Shopping Mall, right in the heart of Jakarta and next to the iconic roundabout (known as Bundaran HI). Grand Indonesia is connected to the Kempinski Hotel (previously Hotel Indonesia), one of the most luxurious hotels of Indonesia and a landmark building.

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The next restaurant that we visit for our new column series about dining in Jakarta is Din Tai Fung, a Chinese restaurant with eight outlets in Jakarta. When we open the official Indonesian website of Din Tai Fung, we see that the restaurant promotes itself by pointing out several honors it has been given: it was listed among the top 10 restaurants in the world voted by both the New York Times (1993) and the Miele Guide, and its original Tapei branch as well as two Hong Kong branches were awarded a Michelin Star by the Miele Guide in 2010.

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For a new column series, Indonesia Investments explores Indonesia's hospitality sector, particularly dining - whether in the context of business meetings or more casual gatherings. In the first installment of this series, we visited all-day dining at Collage in the Pullman Hotel located next to the Central Park Mall in West Jakarta. Pullman is the high-end international brand of the Accor group having 89 hotels and resorts in 24 countries around the globe. Three are located in Indonesia, two in Jakarta (Central Park and Thamrin CBD) and one in Bali.

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