Indonesia's Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati emphasizes the importance of cooperation between the government and Indonesia's micro, small and medium enterprises (including start ups). Indrawati spoke at the 12th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) that opened on Tuesday (02/08) in Jakarta. Last week, Indrawati was appointed Indonesia's new finance minister in a cabinet reshuffle, replacing Bambang Brodjonegoro. She had already been finance minister between 2005 and 2010 under former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

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The government of Indonesia plans to unveil its 12th economic stimulus package next week. This 12th package will deal with the simplification of permits for the country's small and medium-sized enterprises. Indonesia's Chief Economics Minister Darmin Nasution said regional governments are still applying regulations designed by the central authorities although policy-making as well as the execution of these policies have been transferred to the regional authorities (in line with the nation's switch to regional autonomy, or decentralization of governance, in the Reformation era).

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The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), a permanent high-level business advisory group that is created by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), has given five recommendations to the 21 member countries of the APEC. These recommendations involve regional economic integration, sustainable development, entrepreneurship as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs), an economic and banking forum, and lastly, a dialogue in the industry sector concerning scientific innovation.

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Indonesia Investments has updated the company profile of Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), one of the leading commercial banks in Indonesia and the country's second largest lender by assets. The bank's business focus mainly lies on banking services in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME’s). BRI was a state-owned company until 2003 when it listed 30 percent of its shares on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). It is currently one of the largest Indonesian companies in terms of market capitalization.

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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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The Indonesian government has set new rules to limit the amount of outlets that a franchise holder can own in Indonesia to 250 in total. The government implements this rule to protect the country's small and medium enterprises. This new policy has far-reaching consequences for large fast-food companies such as Pizza Hut, KFC and Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. They will have five years to adjust their businesses to the new policy.

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