Indonesia Economic Headline: Rupiah Falls Down

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Dec. 2, 2014 - PRLog -- HEADLINE

Rupiah Drops To Weakest In 11 Months On Fuel Price Hike

JAKARTA—Rupiah fell to the weakest level in 11 months after Statistics Indonesia’s data showed export and inflation worse than predicted.

Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced that the export in October fell by 2.21% from the actualization last year or worse than the estimated decrease of 1.45% from economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The decline makes trade surplus to reach only US$23.2 million amid contraction of import by 2.21%.

BANKS & FINANCE

Governor Of Central Bank: IDR Depreciates Not Because Of Internal Factors

JAKARTA— Governor of Bank Indonesia, Agus Martowardojo, denies opinion that IDR depreciation is caused by internal factors, particularly by internal data which turn out to be below the market expectation.

“This is a reflection of strong USA,” he said after meeting Ministry of Finance, Monday (12/1/2014).

ENERGY & MINING

The Govt Must Decide Operatorship In Mahakam Block Soon

JAKARTA-The government should immediately issue a decision on the management of the Mahakam block in East Kalimantan to provide business certainty for PT Pertamina (Persero) or current operator Total E & P Indonesia.

Member of Committee of Oil and Gas Governance Reform Fahmi Radhy said the government plans to hand over management of the Mahakam block PT Pertamina after 2017 and it is considered as the right step, although the state-owned oil and gas company also must consider the proposal of Total.

ENERGY & MINING

Govt To Soon Summon Newmont On Commitment In Smelter Development

JAKARTA – The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources will soon summon the management of PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara to question the company’s commitment in developing the copper concentrates processing and refinement plant in the country.

Director General of Mineral and Coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) R. Sukhyar asserted that the Newmont’s management had long promised the development of copper smelter. Yet, he noticed that the Ministry had not obtained any certainty on the mining company’s commitment.

INDUSTRY

Furniture Manufacturers Set Export Growth Target Of 15%

JAKARTA—Furniture and handicraft industry is optimistic the presence of investors from China and Taiwan this year will be able to contribute 15% to export growth in 2015 from the current position of US$2 billion.

“Labor cost increase in China, Taiwan and Vietnam makes furniture and handicraft business players move to Indonesia. This can be seen in Central Java and East Java. Based on calculation, their contribution will help export target of US$5 billion in the next five years,” said Secretary General of the Association of Indonesian Furniture and Rattan (AMKRI) Abdul Sobur to Indonesia Business Daily, Monday (12/1).

INFRASTRUCTURE

Indonesian Vice President, ADB Discuss Indonesia's Infrastructure Development

JAKARTA--Vice President Jusuf Kalla received Asian Development Banks (ADB) Vice President for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Stephen P. Groff, at his office here on Monday evening.

They were scheduled to discuss infrastructure development in Indonesia.

TRANSPORTATION

Kadin Urges Government To Provide Abundant Sea Short Shipping Incentive

JAKARTA—The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry urges the government to provide abundant incentive both fiscal and non-fiscal for the short shipping service so that the diversion of logistics from the road to the sea can be increased.

So far, national logistics distribution is still dominated by the road transportation of about 90.34%, railway (0.62%), river (1.01%), ferry (0.98%), sea (7%) and the air (0.05%).

TELECOMMUNICATION

Operators Alliance To Boost E-commerce Ecosystem

JAKARTA— Cellular telecommunication operators, PT Indosat Tbk (ISAT) and PT XL Axiata Tbk (EXCL) cooperate to develop e-commerce and e-money ecosystem to support the government program namely cashless society.

President Director of Indosat Alexander Rusli said the operators need to cooperate to support the e-commerce and e-money penetration to realize the digital savvy society.