Indonesia Economy Forum

[Indos]

thanks

I have read the wiki article on him.

@Indos

apart from times of trouble, Indonesia has not only the potential to become a regional power, but possibly an exmaple to follow in the Islamic world (no offense intended to Muslims).

Wish Indonesians best of luck. A great country filled with great people ^_^

Thank You very much Friend,

Personally I have had a good relationship as well with American Indian before when he became my business client, so I have seen a good character of Indian people trough him, you guys also have so many great people as well ....

 

[Reashot Xigwin]

Poverty in Indonesia
Muted music
The poor are benefiting relatively little from Indonesia’s growth
May 3rd 2014 | JAKARTA | From the print edition

• social buttons > BM|event80">
  
  
  
  Manufacturing would pay more
  
  “JALANAN”, a documentary by a Canadian director, Daniel Ziv, tells the stories of three buskers who play music for small change on clapped-out buses in Jakarta, Indonesia’s sprawling capital. One of them, Boni, lives in a sewer that runs beneath one of the city’s swankiest shopping malls. The film, which recently opened in Jakarta, is a poignant reminder of the glaring gap between rich and poor in South-East Asia’s largest economy.
  
  Indonesia has grown rapidly in recent years and living standards have improved. On the basis of purchasing-power parity (PPP), albeit not the updated figures discussed here, gross national income per head doubled during the decade to 2012, to $4,730. The proportion of the population living in poverty fell by half, from 24% in 1999 to 12% in 2012. McKinsey, a consulting firm, has predicted that the country’s “consuming class” of people earning more than $3,600 annually will triple to 135m by 2030 (again, on a PPP basis and adjusted for inflation). The growing ranks of consumers, in turn, have prompted a spurt of foreign investment.
  
  Yet Indonesia’s growth has been uneven. According to a forthcoming report by the World Bank, real consumption grew by about 4% a year on average in 2003-10. But for the poorest 40% of households it grew by only 1.3%. In contrast, consumption by the richest 20% grew by 5.9%. In other words, the rich are getting richer much more rapidly than the poor are. At 0.38 in 2011, Indonesia’s Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, is in line with that of other developing countries. But it has jumped from 0.29 in 2000.
  
  Over 3m migrants from the countryside arrive each year in Jakarta and other cities. Many of them end up with jobs in low-end services, hawking food by the roadside or selling things from handcarts. They are part of a vast informal economy, which accounts for some 70% of GDP. They rarely earn the official minimum wage and receive few government benefits.
  
  The World Bank estimates that labour productivity in Indonesia’s low-end service sector is about double that in agriculture. But it is still only one-fifth of that in manufacturing. In other words, poverty falls as people leave rice fields to work in low-end services, but it would fall much faster if they were to find jobs in factories instead.
  
  Manufacturing in Indonesia is hamstrung by decrepit infrastructure, rigid labour laws and protectionist policies that make it difficult for its factories to be competitive. Even though the share of Indonesia’s labour force employed in agriculture has been in decline for decades, manufacturing’s share has not changed much at all, hovering at about 13%. And local manufacturing remains dominated by the processing of palm oil and other primary commodities. In contrast, services now employ about 44% of the labour force, up from 37% a decade ago.
  
  Widening access to things like well-built houses, clean water and sanitation, along with education and health care, might slowly start to share the rewards of Indonesia’s rapid economic growth more evenly. Indonesia has increased its social spending. It has bold plans to introduce universal health care by 2019, for example.
  
  But government spending is still skewed towards the rich. About 20% of the central government’s budget, or 282 trillion rupiah ($24.5 billion) this year, goes on energy subsidies. Cheap petrol benefits the rich, who are the biggest consumers, more than the poor. It squeezes spending on public services, too. According to the World Bank, getting rid of fuel subsidies, while reforming taxes and cutting spending on civil servants, would allow the government to double spending on infrastructure, health and social welfare. That would be better for the environment, the economy and especially the poor.
  
  Poverty in Indonesia: Muted music | The Economist

 

[MarveL]

World Bank: Indonesia World’s 10th Largest Economy

An employee of Bank Negara Indonesia moves a pack of 100,000 Rupiah notes at the bank’s head office in Jakarta. (Reuters Photo/Supri)

Jakarta. Indonesia has the 10th largest economy in the world, according to a recent report by the World Bank, with the country contributing 2.3 percent of global economic output.

The report released the findings of the 2011 International Comparison Program (ICP), which assesses economies based on purchasing power parity (PPP) and noted that Indonesia moved up six places and leapfrogged more developed countries such as Spain, South Korea and Canada.

The ICP round gathered over 7 million prices from 199 economies in eight regions, with assistance from 15 regional and international partners.

In the top nine are the United States, China, India, Japan, Germany, Russia, Brazil, France and Britain.

The middle-income economies of Indonesia, China, India, Russia, Brazil and Mexico now account for 32.3 percent of world gross domestic product. That compares with the 32.9 percent contributed by the six largest high-income economies, United States, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, and Italy. The report also showed that the United States was about to lose its status as the world’s biggest economy, as China is likely to surpass it by the end of this year, faster than widely anticipated.

The United States has been the biggest economy in the world since overtaking the United Kingdom in 1872.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has predicted that China will overtake the United States by 2016 while China itself is hoping to become number one by 2019. According to the report China’s GDP was nearly 87 percent of the US GDP in 2011, while India had moved up from being in 10th position in 2005 to the third-largest economy, overtaking Japan.

However, some say the PPP is just one measure to judge the performance of the world’s economies and that developing nations like India and China still have a lot of catching up to do.

“When, for example, we measure international purchasing power expressed in dollars, which matters in international trade, the United States, Europe and Japan continue to be the dominant economies in the world,” Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asia economic research at HSBC in Hong Kong said as reported by International Business Time, which quoted CNBC.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was quick to respond. “This morning I received a report that Indonesia has become the world’s 10th largest economy. Thank God, it is all of our efforts and hard work,” he said through his twitter account.

He said the nation continues working to reach higher levels of prosperity.

“This is of course a good start. But we still have a long way to go as we are facing many challenges. However, God willing, we can overcome those challenges,” he told a gathering in Jakarta later in the day.

Finance Minister Chatib Basri said the achievement was an endorsement of the government’s economic policy. “That means Indonesia’s economy is on the right track and we have made significant progress because a couple years ago we were in 16th position,” Chatib said, as quoted by Detik on Sunday.

But many other reports pointed out that while the rise of Indonesia should be praised, it has an uneven growth rate, with a widening gap between rich and poor.

Citing a forthcoming report by the World Bank, the Economist warned that real consumption grew by about 4 percent a year on average from 2003 to 2010. But for the poorest 40 percent of households it grew by only 1.3 percent. In contrast, consumption by the richest 20 percent grew by 5.9 percent.

Based on this data, the magazine concluded that the rich are getting richer much more rapidly than the poor.

The growing inequality between low-income groups and high-income groups has also been indicated by the country’s worsening Gini coefficient — which represents income disbursement — from 0.29 in 2000 to 0.38 in 2011, a drop of almost a third in equality.

The Economist also points to the fact that the informal sector accounts for 70 percent of the country’s GDP, meaning that the vast majority of Indonesia’s working population has no guarantee of minimum wage and protection from the government.

People are forced to go informal because manufacturing in Indonesia is hamstrung by decrepit infrastructure, rigid labor laws and protectionist policies that make it difficult for its factories to be competitive, according to the magazine.

Indonesia has increased its social spending, the magazine reported, adding that the government has bold plans to introduce universal health care by 2019.

However, government spending is still skewed towards the rich, with about 20 percent of the central government’s budget, or 282 trillion rupiah ($24.5 billion) this year, going on energy subsidies. Cheap gasoline benefits the rich, who are its biggest consumers.

World Bank: Indonesia World’s 10th Largest Economy | The Jakarta Globe

2014

1. United States (AS) 17,1 %
2. China 14,9 %
3. India 6,4 %
4. Japan 4,8 %
5. Germany 3,7 %
6. Russian Federation 3,5 %
7. Brazil 3,1 %
8. France 2,6 %
9. United Kingdom 2,4 %
10. Indonesia 2,3 %
11. Italy 2,3 %
12. Mexico 2,1 %
13. Spain 1,6 %
14. Korea, Rep. 1,6 %
15. Canada 1,6 %
16. Saudi Arabia 1,5 %
17. Turkey 1,5 %
18. Iran, Islamic Rep. 1,4 %
19. Australia 1,1 %
20. Taiwan, China 1 %

 

[Nike]

I don't want to speculate, but i think Indonesia has performing good in this decade, and Insha Allah , there will be a continuity for eternity

 

[nametag]

The article above can be misleading, in term of GDP based on PPP Indonesia maybe the 10th. but in term of GDP on nominal basis, Indonesia is still in 15/16th if i'm not mistaken. And percapita income are still in the middle income area. One of the problem is the gini ratio, which is getting worst. Which mean the disparity between the rich and the poor are getting larger.

But I do believe that the current government have performed really well in economy, especially if you compare it with previous government. And the achievement are well deserved. But there are still many homework to do.

 

[Reashot Xigwin]

Guyon post

Side Views
Indonesia dangerously dull – Michael Hegarty
May 09, 2014

Did you see all the international coverage of the election in Indonesia recently? The reports on CNN and Al Jazeera about the shock result, the inexorable rise of the fundamentalists, the mass demonstrations on the streets, the mutterings of discontent among the military, the chaos at the polling stations, the whiff of tear gas hanging in the night air? No? Oddly enough me neither.

In fact did you see any coverage of the election in the global media? Admittedly we in the world’s third-largest democracy were upstaged by our friends in the world’s biggest democracy, India.

I did see one brief report on the Indonesian election on the BBC, but let’s face it when it comes to the BBC and India no other developing nation gets a look-in.

But this wasn’t how it was supposed to be. We were warned by international pundits that instability in the “Fragile Five”; Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey would be a major factor in world news in 2014, particularly with elections in three of them, Brazil, India and Indonesia.

Well I don’t know how things will work out in Brazil or India, but for the “Breaking News” brigade of the 24-hour rolling coverage channels, Indonesia has been a bit of a damp squib, hasn’t it?

It has been this way with Indonesia for a while now, the biggest news stories are to do with economic matters and most of them are of the decidedly yawneroo variety; the monthly percentage change in the current-account deficit, export policy and motor-cycle sales. Once the great menacing “Archipelago of Fear”, brooding with latent violence and danger, Indonesia’s problems seem to have become rather mundane. Dare we say it, Indonesia is getting a bit boring nowadays.

Despite this, foreign correspondents still seem to have a lingering subconscious feeling that something must, de facto, be fundamentally wrong in Indonesia. As with the fatuous Fragile Five cited above, journalists love to lump nations, particularly emerging economies, into snappily named groups. The BBC website has a report on the “MINT” economies; Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey. The writer waxes lyrical about the prospects for three of these, the exception being Indonesia, which lacks a “wow factor” and faces infrastructural hurdles.

Mexico is currently in the middle of an undeclared civil war between, and among, the government and the drugs cartels, which has left 70,000 dead, their disemboweled bodies left hanging from overpasses or dismembered and dumped at shopping malls. In the last two weeks Nigeria has made the headlines twice, take your pick between a bomb at a bus station in the capital that killed over 70 people or the abduction by Boko Haram of more than 230 schoolgirls. In Turkey, after weeks of violent street protests last year, the government has tried to ban YouTube and Twitter to prevent discussion of alleged corruption in the prime minister’s family.

Yes, you can really see how when faced with wow factors like these in other nations international investors might be put off Indonesia because of outdated facilities at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

And how about that other famous group of emerging economic powers that Indonesians once looked so enviously at? How are things in the BRICS economies? Still looking to invest in China’s “economic miracle”? And Russia? No, let’s just pass swiftly over Russia.

Even one of the most reported problems in Indonesia, the flooding that regularly blights several parts of Jakarta for hours, or sometimes days, during the peak of the rainy season doesn’t compare to the truly apocalyptic deluge that slowly engulfed Thailand in 2011. Come to that how does Indonesia’s political situation compare to that in Thailand, the one-time media darling of Southeast Asia? I await with bated breath the gushing report titled “Indonesia, the most stable and most liberal democracy in Southeast Asia” in the New York Times or Wall Street Journal, I’m sure it won’t be long now.

Indonesia still has many problems, but most of these problems relate to its steady economic growth and development. The number of reforms the nation still needs to make could fill several volumes and every two steps forward seem to meet one step back. Nonetheless, despite the perennial naysayers, progress in Indonesia is obvious and tangible.

The growth is not spectacular but frankly Indonesia doesn’t need another “tiger” boom, that didn’t work out so well the last time. The development is mostly below the radar and not especially exciting, the building of new roads, factories and port facilities are reported daily in The Jakarta Post, but rarely get much mention outside the business pages.

Compared to riots, tsunamis, bombs and transportation disasters there is currently little to attract the attention of the world’s media to Indonesia.

Back in the day Indonesians, with their customary self-deprecatory sense of humor, rebutted the absurd archipelago-of-fear image with the car sticker: “Travel warning, Indonesia dangerously beautiful”. For the world’s adrenaline-junkie foreign correspondents looking to do their reports to camera in that particular dodging-the-bullets crouch so beloved of a certain type of reporter today, the message is, “Warning, Indonesia dangerously dull”. – The Jakarta Post, May 9, 2014.

*Michael Hegarty is a contributor to The Jakarta Post.

*This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

Indonesia dangerously dull – Michael Hegarty - The Malaysian Insider

 

[Dayax]

Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) Will Launch its BRIsat Satellite in 2016

Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), the country's second-largest lender by market capitalization, will become the world's first bank that has its own communications satellite. On 28 April 2014, a contract was signed between Arianespace and BRI for the launch of the Indonesian satellite, which will be named BRIsat. The contract signing ceremony took place in Jakarta, and was witnessed by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as well as various other high positioned officials.

BRIsat will be launched by an Ariane 5 launcher from the Guiana Space Center, Europe's Spaceport in Kourou (French Guiana) in 2016. Through this new satellite, BRI aims to enhance its corporate performance, save telecommunication spending by 50 percent (currently BRI uses 20 to 22 transponders from 7 or 8 providers such as Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Indosat and Citra Sari Makmur), and expand its activities and services to all corners of the vast Indonesian archipelago. The construction and launch of BRIsat will cost approximately USD $230 million.

BRIsat will be the fifth satellite to be launched by Arianespace for Indonesian operators. According to the website of Arianespace "BRIsat will be built by Space Systems/Loral, and will weigh about 3,500 kg at launch. Fitted with C and Ku-band transponders, it will offer a design life exceeding 15 years. From its orbital position at 150.5° East, it will deliver highly reliable communications services to BRI's 11,000 bank branches across the Indonesian archipelago."

Arianespace Senior Vice-President and Sales & Customers Jacques Breton added, "We are very proud of our selection by BRI, which has indeed honored Arianespace by entrusting us with their first satellite. Their selection shows the competitiveness of our launch services for satellites of the 3 metric ton class. This is our fifth contract with Indonesia, coming 15 years after the launch of Palapa C2 in 1996, and also further cements an exceptional space partnership between Indonesia and Europe."

Currently, BRI needs to handle about 15 to 16 million electronic transactions per day. It frequently occurs that there are disturbances in these transactions due to the weak quality of the current satellites. Therefore, to increase the quality of its services, BRI decided to launch its own satellite. As Indonesia is an archipelago, banks need to use satellites for communication (instead of fiber-optic communication).

maaf kalau salah kamar belum bisa ks link di post!

 

[Indos]

maaf kalau salah kamar belum bisa ks link di post!

Its a right place, keep your good working

 

[Dayax]

Friday, 23 May 2014 JAKARTA - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono becomes the first president in Asia receiving the Global Statesman Award from World Economic Forum on East Asia (WEFEA) in Manila, the Philippines. The founder and CEO of WEF, Klaus Schwab handed the award to president witnessed by all WEFEA participants.
President of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino III, congratulated Yudhoyono during the bilateral meeting on Friday. President was accompanied by the First Lady, Ani Yudhoyono, as well as several ministries.
"President Yudhoyono is the first Asian leader who receives this award," Aquino said.
In his speech, Yudhoyono said that amid political turmoil, economic uncertainty, also strategic tension, Indonesia has shown its extraordinary achievements, such as involved in the trillion of dollars of economic groups, also became one of G20 members. He said that Indonesia had proven where democracy, Islam, and modernity could coexist in harmony.
"Indonesia has also proven that we can achieve democracy and economic growth simultaneously," Yudhoyono said.
He reminded that world needed a role model. "The world requires a role model and his spirit to meet the challenges in this era. We need to challenge the old assumptions and break the boundaries to enter the new world," Yudhoyono said.

source: republika online

 

[katarabhumi]

Official: Non-oil and gas industry grows 5.56 percent

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANDUNG - Indonesia's non-oil and gas industry grew 5.56 percent in the first quarter of 2014 or higher than economic growth of 5.21 percent. Secretary General of Ministry of Industry, Ansari Bukhari, said that government targetted the growth of 6.5 percent of national industry in 2014.

"We can grow six percent despite some correction on industrial growth," Bukhari said on Sunday.
A number of industrial sectors will record high growth, such as food and beverage, transportation, machinery and tools, agricultural and forestry based industries. While Indonesia's controversial ban on mineral ore export will impact on metal sector growth.

Foreign and domestic investment still flow into Indonesia, while domestic consumption is still big.
Based on the ministry's data, the leading industrial sectors in the first quarter of 2014 are food, beverage and tobacco industry (9.47 percent), transportation and industry (6.03 percent), industrial timber industry and forest products (5.17 percent).

Investment in industrial sectors rose 1.73 percent to 11.11 trillion IDR in the first quarter of 2014, compared to same period last year, while foreign investment fell 23.47 percent to 3.49 billion USD. Non-oil export contributed to the trade surplus. It is in line with better global economic conditions.

Official: Non-oil and gas industry grows 5.56 percent | Republika Online


===========


Muslim tourists' spending reaches 137 million USD per year

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sapta Nirwandar said that Muslim tourists' spending in the world reached 137 billion USD per year. The value was 12.5 percent of global expenditure, based on Thomson Reuters in State of the Global Islamic Economy 2012.

Nirwandar said in 2018 the figure would rise to 181 billion IDR without cost of hajj and umra pilgrimage.
"Since the spending is potentially high, then Indonesia must identify Islamic tourism business and its products," Nirwandar said on Sunday.

At least 239 million domestic tourist trips spent 138 trillion IDR in 2011. The figure then increased to 245 million domestic tourist trips in 2012.

"If 88.1 percent of them are Muslim tourists, there are 215 million domestic tourists trips with cost of expenditure of 142.3 billion IDR," Nirwandar said.

Government began to strengthen cooperation with Islamic Cooperation Organization members especially to enhance Islamic tourism development. Indonesia also needs to promote Islamic tourism destinations also its products, such as hotels, tour packages, restaurants and spas.

Muslim tourists' spending reaches 137 million USD per year | Republika Online


===========


MUI to build a museum on Islamic civilization

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - The Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) plans to build a museum of Islamic civilization. Deputy Secretary General of MUI, Natsir Zubaidi said the museum aimed to teach Indonesia, a country with the largest Muslim population in the world, on Islam and its culture.

"We see Islam develop well in Indonesia," Zubaidi said recently, explaining the reason behind the plan.

The museum can explain about how Islam flourishing and struggling during colonialism era in Indonesia. The museum will be designed like a park with miniatures of historical mosques in Indonesia, including history and relics about Islam in Indonesia. MUI will also build an Islamic boarding school within the park's area. MUI will choose one location among Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, or Bekasi.

MUI to build a museum on Islamic civilization | Republika Online

==

 

[Reashot Xigwin]

Indonesia’s African Outreach
A newly defined African presence could give Indonesia greater political and economic clout on the global stage.
By Istvan Tarrosy
May 27, 2014

Image Credit: REUTERS/ Thierry Gouegnon

Since the fall of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998, Indonesia has had an impressive rise in world politics. As the largest economy in Southeast Asia and the fourth largest population in the world, with more than 248 million people in 2012, the country had often made its voice heard, particularly on issues connected with the former Third World, today known as the Global South.

Of course, Indonesia has been a leading actor in the developing world since the 1955 conference of twenty-nine nations of Asia and Africa, the First Asia-Africa Conference held in the city of Bandung. But since 2001, Indonesia has consistently achieved GDP growth in excess of 5 percent, which “is forecast to dip slightly in 2014 before recovering next year,” according to the Asian Development Bank. In a regional context, as Abdul-Latif Halimi states, Indonesia’s rise will be “very significant, even if gradual.” Certainly, Indonesia’s growing presence will have implications for many countries nearby, including China, whose regional hegemony will surely be challenged. The Natuna Islands in the South China Sea are one possible flashpoint. Surrounded by a gas-rich seabed, the islands lie between China’s nine-dash line and Indonesia’s Exclusive Economic Zone, and could be a source of future tensions.

In an interregional context, the Indonesian government is seeking to bolster relations with Africa. It is worth looking at business interest in entering (or reentering, in some cases) African markets. An interview with the Indonesian Ambassador to Senegal, HE Andradjati, revealed that a number of Indonesian companies have approached the embassy in Dakar in the past two years. Many ventures took part in the annual International Trade Fair/Foire Internationale de Dakar (FIDAK). Another group of companies participated in the Trade Mission to Senegal and The Gambia organized by the Ministry of Trade of Indonesia in cooperation with the embassy. Yet another group visited Senegal, Sierra Leone and Guinea (Conakry) seeking to open up markets in these countries. “Although it is still below full potential there has been an increase in Indonesian private sector interest in doing business with Africa,” says Andradjati.

Indonesia’s turn towards Africa is part of Jakarta’s assertive and pragmatic foreign policy, which since the early 2000s has been focusing on building a political and security community within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and also tightening links with the U.S., India, Australia, Russia, as well as other emerging countries. Indonesia is also a member of the G20.

In fact, Indonesia’s rising global profile is also evident in the new numeronyms and acronyms created in the last couple of years: PricewaterhouseCoopers, for instance, coined “E7,” representing the world’s seven major emerging countries: China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Indonesia and Turkey. Goldman Sachs speaks of the “N-11” (Next Eleven), referring to Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey, South Korea and Vietnam, as the emerging countries with the potential to join the club of the largest economies over the course of the 21st century. This N-11 can be compared to CIVETS, coined by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which lists Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa on the same grounds. All include Indonesia, a nod to its size and potential.

As Karen Brooks points out in her excellent 2011 article in Foreign Affairs: “the real driver of the country’s recent economic growth has been the Indonesian consumer, with consumption accounting for roughly 60 percent of GDP.” It is not surprising, then, that the private sector concentrates on the country’s internal market and on expanding in Asia. Africa still seems rather distant these Indonesia’s entrepreneurs.

The government, however, wants market diversification, and is targeting several African countries with “non-oil-and-gas products,” according to the Jakarta Post. According to Andradjati, Indonesian businesses are competitive in Africa, able to compete with other Asian actors. “One of the strengths of Indonesian players is the quality of their products,” which include palm oil and associated products, textiles, footwear, cars and automotive components, and electronics. According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), major African trading partners for Indonesia in 2011 were South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria and Tanzania, while trade with Madagascar, Kenya, Benin, Angola and Ghana was growing.

Beyond bilateral agreements, a regional approach can be detected in Indonesia’s actions. Apart from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) offers abundant opportunities to boost trade with Africa. There have been some recent developments, as Andradjati mentions, which can support these efforts. “The establishment of the Joint Commission of Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) between the government of the Republic of Indonesia and the Republic of The Gambia is a good example in this respect. Follow up actions from the JCBC meeting took place in Jakarta in March 2014 in the areas of agriculture, education, health, trade and technical cooperation. The government of Indonesia has donated hand tractors to the governments of Senegal and The Gambia to support the mechanization of agricultural sectors in these countries. The same developments are now being processed as well with other West African countries.”

In bilateral trade, the win-win strategy for Indonesia and ECOWAS countries is to create direct trade relationships. It will also be essential to oversee the financial export guarantee schemes and incentives, as well, according to Professor Georges Suha, former Gambian ambassador to UNIDO and currently dean of the Hong Kong-based Alfred Nobel Open Business School. Suha emphasized in an interview that, “Indonesia recognizes Senegal’s potential as its entrance to West African markets. The biggest trophy of this penetration is the Senegalese intention of buying two CN-235-220 planes from state aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia.” Also worth noting, in 2012 West Africa attracted the largest FDI volumes of any African region, estimated at USD15.1 billion, driven mostly by demand for resources, as reported by the African Economic Outlook 2013.

Indonesia’s legislative elections in April resulted in a win for the main opposition party (Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle – PDI-P), as expected. Notes Oliver Oehms, senior economic advisor on trade and investment at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce: “The elections [and later on the presidential election in July 2014] will not harm businesses but can help to change the perspective of Indonesia. The country does not fully use its export potential and the trade pattern that has been characterizing Indonesia for five years has not really changed.” Greater political commitment could contribute to more trade beyond Asia, too.

Stronger cooperation with Africa would give Indonesia a greater role, not only on the African continent but in the rapidly changing context of Afro-Asian relations. Seeking ways to boost trade, assisting African countries in different forms along the lines of the “Bandung solidarity,” and pursuing a pragmatic foreign policy under a new president could all result in an even more powerful and assertive Indonesia, one that may even warrant inclusion in the BRICS, perhaps as a replacement for Russia in a new BIICS group. As economist Nouriel Roubini argued, “from an American perspective, Indonesia is an attractive alternative to Russia.” In any case, the addition of Indonesia would obviously redefine the BRICS, but it would also bolster its claim to be the most important interregional grouping in the Global South.

Istvan Tarrosy is co-editor of The African State in a Changing Global Context. Breakdowns and Transformations (Berlin, 2010), and is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Pecs, Hungary. He was Fulbright Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for African Studies, University of Florida in 2013, early 2014.

Indonesia’s African Outreach | The Diplomat


Indonesia to start work on world's biggest geothermal plant in June



Indonesia will begin construction next month of its long-delayed US$1.6-billion Sarulla project, the world's biggest geothermal power plant, the country's chief economic minister said on Wednesday, May 28, 2014 - PHOTO: REUTERS

[JAKARTA] Indonesia will begin construction next month of its long-delayed US$1.6-billion Sarulla project, the world's biggest geothermal power plant, the country's chief economic minister said on Wednesday.

Southeast Asia's largest economy, home to the world's largest geothermal resources, is racing to meet power demand growth of more than 7 per cent a year, with plans to add 60 gigawatts of capacity to its existing grid by 2022.

But the sector has struggled to attract investment because of complex regulations and difficulties securing project finance. A government plan to derive 12 per cent of the country's energy mix from geothermal power by 2025 seems unrealistic.

"The Sarulla groundbreaking will be very soon," Coordinating Economic Minister Chairul Tanjung told reporters, adding that the project had reached financial closing and the government expected construction to begin next month.

Indonesia to start work on world's biggest geothermal plant in June, Asia Breaking News & Headlines - THE BUSINESS TIMES

 

[katarabhumi]

Why Indonesia is the One to Watch?
by Sarah Boumphrey

The I in MINT: Why Indonesia is the One to Watch

Until last year Indonesia was something of an investor favourite. It is the 4th largest country globally in terms of population and averaged real GDP growth of 6.3% between 2010 and 2012. 2013 saw it fall from grace as one of the “fragile 5” economies most exposed to the taper, and growth fell below 6.0%. In the first quarter of 2014 real GDP growth slowed to its slowest pace since 2009, yet in the long term, if not on the same scale as China in the BRIC, Indonesia will remain the key market to watch in the MINT.

Source: Euromonitor International from national statistics/OECD/UN/IMF

Note: Data from 2014 onwards are forecast. MNT average refers to Mexico, Nigeria and Turkey

Past Glories

Indonesia’s large domestic market left it relatively unscathed by the aftermath of the financial crisis. Private consumption has increased by above 5% annually since 2007. With its abundant natural resources, the economy also benefited from the boom in commodity prices – mineral fuels accounted for 33.3% of all exports in 2012. Employment grew by an average of 2.7% annually between 2007 and 2012, supporting consumption.

Indonesia attracted large inflows of Foreign Direct Investment with an increase in inflows of 121% between 2007 and 2012 – growth that places it behind only Brunei in ASEAN. In US$ terms Indonesia is also now the second-highest recipient of FDI in ASEAN – behind Singapore.

What Went Wrong?

In 2013 exports slowed, partly due to supply issues with natural resources – including important sectors such as palm oil, oil and rubber. This contributed to a widening of the current account deficit at a time when international attention was turning to macro-economic fundamentals. In addition government finances were also under pressure and a reduction in fuel subsidies contributed to rising inflation. This left Indonesia in a weakened position – suffering from twin deficits and inflationary pressures. The exchange rate depreciated sharply in 2013 during the period which became known as the “taper turmoil”. At the same time the downturn in commodity prices impacted on export performance.

Come-Back Kid?

Yet the government has acted positively by increasing interest rates, removing quotas on some food imports, providing tax breaks to exporters, offering tax holidays to investors in certain industries and letting the currency depreciate in order to quell imports. These policies have enabled Indonesia to regain investor confidence to some extent in the final quarter of last year and into 2014. The balance of trade has returned to surplus, inflation is on a downward path.

Nevertheless, GDP growth increased by 5.2% (at an annualised rate) in Q1 over the final quarter of 2013 – the slowest rate of growth since 2009. The slowdown has been caused by a combination of domestic and external factors – including the government’s mineral export ban and the China slowdown. This shows that the country’s short-term challenges remain and the government must continue to act in order to shore up growth.

Long-Term Prognosis is Good

More important than these recent challenges and the government’s measures to combat them are the long-term trends in the country. Indonesia has a growing middle class – the number of households with an income over US$10,000 (in constant 2013 prices) is expected to increase by an average 1.9 million per annum to 2030. Consumer expenditure is expected to see real growth of 41.7% between 2014 and 2020 and 152% between 2014 and 2030; in dollar terms at US$777 billion, this latter figure is the equivalent of another consumer market the size of South Korea.

Indonesia benefits from its strategic location in Asia – a dynamic region celebrating its 10th consecutive year as the world’s fastest-growing region. Its trade is increasingly intra-regional – 66.8% of exports stayed in the region in 2013, compared to 57.5% in 2000.

Productivity remains low, but many of the drivers of productivity look promising: Indonesia has relatively high enrolment in secondary education, and this enrolment is growing quickly. Mobile telephone subscriptions are high, and a large proportion of these subscriptions are internet subscriptions (more than one quarter in 2013).

Finally its sheer scale makes it the only real competitor to the BRICs. At 247 million in 2013 its population is larger than that of Brazil and Russia. In 2030 its population of working age will be more than twice the size of Russia’s. This scale, if combined with increasing productivity, will make Indonesia the MINT to watch.

The I in MINT: Why Indonesia is the One to Watch - Analyst Insight from Euromonitor International

 

[Reashot Xigwin]

Will Indonesia be Asia's new manufacturing hub?
Nyshka Chandran | @NyshkaCNBC
6 Hours AgoCNBC.com

A strong economic backdrop and political uncertainty in neighboring nations means Indonesia is poised to become Asia's new manufacturing hub, experts say.

"Indonesia does has the potential to take the number one spot in Asian manufacturing due to a combination of its economic factors and geopolitics," said Wellian Wiranto, economist at OCBC Bank.

Robertus Pudyanto | Getty Images
A worker leaves traditional, long noodles to dry in the sun in Singkawang, Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Several companies have announced plans to expand into Indonesia. In May, General Electric said it's exploring the possibility of making Indonesia its business Southeast Asian business hub, while South Korean electronics giant LG plans to open an air conditioner plant in West Java this month.

Japanese carmaker Toyota said last week that it's considering Indonesia for an export

production
base. That follows the firm's plan to invest $337 million into a new Indonesia-based factory.
Indonesia's automobile production ranks second regionally after Thailand. The Trade Ministry expects car exports to hit $5 billion this year, marking 10 percent annual growth.

Healthy fundamentals

A Euromonitor report released over the weekend outlined several factors that make Indonesia attractive to manufacturers including low labor costs and a large population.

"Compared with other countries in Asia Pacific, Indonesia also has the most attractive hourly wage. This means that production costs are lower and thus manufacturer profits are higher," Thidathip Tawaichi, consumer appliances analyst at Euromonitor wrote.

In this aspect Indonesia stands out against powerhouse China, where wages have risen 10 to 15 percent annually in recent years, threatening its status as the world's factory.

Boasting the world's fourth-largest population at 250 million people, Indonesia's consumer purchasing power is also appealing. Indonesian households with an annual disposable income exceeding $10,000 increased from six million in 2008 to 16 million in 2013, according to Euromonitor.

Regional tensions

Political uncertainty in manufacturing hotspots like Thailand and Vietnam is also pushing foreign business towards Indonesia, said OCBC's Wiranto.

Thailand continues to struggle under a military coup launched in May, which threatens its status as a low-cost production hub. Manufacturing output fell to a two-and-a-half-year low in April, marking the 13th straight month of declines.

Despite the army's efforts to reconcile opposing political groups, analysts remain bearish.

In a research note published Monday, Hozefa Topiwalla, managing director of research at Morgan Stanley, said the country's political equity risk premiums will remain high. He expects slower growth for a while longer.

Vietnam, another regional base for global supply chain operations, saw the worst outbreak of civil unrest in several decades in May. Protestors set fire to foreign factories and engaged in widespread riots in retaliation against Beijing's decision to station an oil rig in the disputed South China Sea waters.

Taiwanese, South Korean, Japanese and Chinese plants were affected, which saw large suppliers like Foxconn suspend operations for several days.

Domestic politics

The July election between presidential candidates Prabowo Subianto and Joko Widodo is in focus. Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group, for instance, is awaiting the results before it decides whether to proceed with a $1 billion manufacturing project.

Wiranto notes that while neither candidate has made manufacturing a main priority, both emphasized the need for increased infrastructure spending, which should encourage foreign investors.

Will Indonesia be Asia's new manufacturing hub?

 

[Aepsilons]

A strong economic backdrop and political uncertainty in neighboring nations means Indonesia is poised to become Asia's new manufacturing hub, experts say.

"Indonesia does has the potential to take the number one spot in Asian manufacturing due to a combination of its economic factors and geopolitics," said Wellian Wiranto, economist at OCBC Bank.

Several companies have announced plans to expand into Indonesia. In May, General Electric said it's exploring the possibility of making Indonesia its business Southeast Asian business hub, while South Korean electronics giant LG plans to open an air conditioner plant in West Java this month.

Japanese carmaker Toyota said last week that it's considering Indonesia for an export production base. That follows the firm's plan to invest $337 million into a new Indonesia-based factory.

Indonesia's automobile production ranks second regionally after Thailand. The Trade Ministry expects car exports to hit $5 billion this year, marking 10 percent annual growth.

A Euromonitor report released over the weekend outlined several factors that make Indonesia attractive to manufacturers including low labor costs and a large population.

"Compared with other countries in Asia Pacific, Indonesia also has the most attractive hourly wage. This means that production costs are lower and thus manufacturer profits are higher," Thidathip Tawaichi, consumer appliances analyst at Euromonitor wrote.

In this aspect Indonesia stands out against powerhouse China, where wages have risen 10 to 15 percent annually in recent years, threatening its status as the world's factory.

Boasting the world's fourth-largest population at 250 million people, Indonesia's consumer purchasing power is also appealing. Indonesian households with an annual disposable income exceeding $10,000 increased from six million in 2008 to 16 million in 2013, according to Euromonitor.




Reference: CNBC

 

[jammersat]

Probably not , obama's term will finish in less than 2 years and his sister is indonesian , needth to remind you?