Indonesia 02 (Nov 16 - Dec 26)

[winston]

‘He humiliated the Koran’: tens of thousands of Muslims rally to demand Jakarta governor resign over blasphemy

Critics are angry that Purnama, who is Christian and ethnic Chinese, countered an opponent’s attack by citing a verse from the Koran

Source: SCMP

http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast ... lims-rally

[behappyalways]

Indonesia’s Economic Growth Slows to 5%, Matching Forecasts
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -forecasts

[behappyalways]

Indonesia to sell stakes in ports
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/ind ... -in-ports/

[winston]

Indonesia: Credit Suisse Tells Us To Be Brave And Buy On Dip

By Shuli Ren

Contrary to viewpoints at JP Morgan and CLSA, Credit Suisse remains positive on Indonesia, even though the southeast Asian country saw sell-offs in the last two days reminiscent of June 2013′s Taper Tantrum.

On Friday, the Indonesian rupiah tumbled to 13,850 per dollar before Bank Indonesia intervened to stabilize the currency at around 13,300 to 13,400.

“We believe the sell-off creates opportunities in areas where an ETF related sell-off is forcing some of the large caps to sell off.

We like domestic plays and those that have dollar revenues and IDR costs.

We would use this opportunity to buy Astra, Media, Property, and selectively Banks,” wrote Credit Suisse.

Source: Barron's Asia

http://blogs.barrons.com/asiastocks/201 ... uy-on-dip/

[behappyalways]

Ahok, the FPI and PilPres 2019
http://www.newmandala.org/ahok-fpi-pilpres-2019/

[winston]

Trillion-Dollar Archipelago: Indonesia

Indonesia is a critically important emerging market for 2017.

The country is essentially an enormous island chain consisting of 17,000 islands and supporting a population of more than a quarter billion. Forecasts indicate that its 17.3 million-strong middle-class households will grow to close to 20 million households by 2030.

This booming middle class is the main driver of demand, which, coupled with the government's five-year plan to invest more than $400 billion in infrastructure, will ensure a 5.5% growth rate in coming years. And although this rate would be fast enough to make Indonesia a member of the prestigious "trillion dollar club" by 2018, the country's true potential is estimated even higher, at 7% per year.

Since it was hit by the 2008 financial crisis, Indonesia has focused on improving its economic profile through cutting down its foreign debt, controlling its spending, and imposing limits on its budget deficit.

In addition, Indonesia's most newly elected president, Joko Widodo, has already managed to cut costly fuel subsidies, and his administration is planning to endorse significant constructive changes for the oil and gas industry, including transforming the Investment Coordinating Board of Indonesia into a centralized permit issuer. The number of oil and gas licenses decrease from 104 to 42 in 2015. This simplification process will help further attract investors to Indonesia.

Savings resulting from these subsidy reductions will help fund ambitious infrastructure development plans.

To profit from the Indonesian move to a leaner economy, grab shares of the VanEck Vectors Indonesia Index ETF (NYSE Arca: IDX), with a return of about 16% since 2009. It seeks to replicate the price and yield performance of the MVIS Indonesia Index (comprising securities of companies that are incorporated in Indonesia or that generate at least 50% of their revenue in Indonesia). Its net expense ratio is really impressive, only 0.58%. And its top 10 holdings include major banks and other big companies such as Unilever Indonesia (IDX: UNVR).

Source: Money Morning

[behappyalways]

Jokowi wakes up the leviathan
http://www.newmandala.org/jokowi-wakes-leviathan/

[behappyalways]

Back in business

A reforming minister tries to spur Indonesia’s economy

But the country’s growth remains disappointing


WHEN campaigning for president in 2014, Joko Widodo said that he could make the Indonesian economy grow by 7% a year—a rate it regularly attained in the 1980s and 1990s but has not reached since (see chart). Alas, Mr Joko, known to all as Jokowi, has not met his target. This year the economy looks set to grow by about 5%, just as it did in 2014.

There is no doubting the potential of Indonesia, an archipelago of 13,500 islands that stretches 3,330 miles (5,360km) along the equator—the distance from London to Afghanistan. Its economy is the biggest in South-East Asia by far, bigger than those of Britain or France on a purchasing-power-parity basis. It is home to 261m people, half of whom are younger than 30. Yet realising this potential has proved tricky of late.

China’s hunger for Indonesian coal and other commodities has abated in recent years. But Indonesia has struggled to find alternative sources of growth. Thanks to its clogged roads, congested ports, greasy-palmed customs officers and onerous local-content rules, investments in manufacturing that might, in another era, have gone to Indonesia are instead being made in places like Vietnam.

Tom Lembong, Indonesia’s investment chief, notes ruefully that Vietnam’s exports, excluding oil and gas, exceeded those of Indonesia for the first time last year—even though its economy is much smaller.

Jokowi’s answer is to improve infrastructure and deregulate, in order to attract investment and speed job creation. Early last year he scrapped expensive petrol subsidies, to allow greater spending on health and education as well as big investments in infrastructure. He has also produced more than a dozen packages of reforms intended to trim red tape and raise competitiveness.

Critics say they are too scattergun—street vendors, the postal service, customs procedures and the minimum wage are but a few of the topics dealt with—but there is a lot that needs fixing. Indonesia was among the world’s ten most-improved economies in the World Bank’s latest “Ease of doing business” rankings, released in October, rising 15 places in a year. That still left it 91st out of 190 economies.

Jokowi’s reforms have not been as bold as many hoped. Earlier this year, while revising the “negative investment list” of 350 industries that are completely or partially closed to foreign investors, he eased limits on 35 but increased them on 20. Stiff tariffs imposed on imported consumer goods in 2015 remain in place, even though the minister responsible for them has been sacked.

Non-tariff barriers to trade proliferate: the latest to have foreign firms fretting is a law requiring all food, beverages, cosmetics and medicines sold in the country, along with the machines used to make them, to satisfy stringent halal-certification rules set by the ministry of religious affairs.

Optimists point to the appointment in July of Sri Mulyani Indrawati as finance minister. The 54-year-old economist earned a reputation as a committed reformer during a previous stint as finance minister under Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Jokowi’s predecessor, in 2005-10. She says she wants strong public finances to be the “backbone” of the president’s reform drive.

The government had to announce $10bn in spending cuts in August to prevent the deficit from breaching the legal limit of 3% of GDP. Yet decreasing government spending is one of the reasons the economy is slowing. She has vowed to follow a tax amnesty, which has raised a useful $7.5bn so far, with a relentless campaign against tax evaders—a policy she pursued with gusto the last time she was in the job.

Ms Mulyani’s previous tenure ended in defeat, however, when she appeared to be chased from office because of a feud with Aburizal Bakrie, a tycoon-turned-politician. She insists that Jokowi is determined to combat corruption, reduce poverty and spread prosperity beyond the main island of Java, but she says she is not “naive” about the political difficulties involved.

That Jokowi appointed her, given the feathers she has ruffled, is heartening. But her return is also a reminder of how reform efforts in Indonesia sometimes end.

Source: The Economist

[behappyalways]

Indonesia justice: Foreign tourists in Gili island 'walk of shame'
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38325452

[behappyalways]

Indonesia Terminates JPMorgan Partnerships After Downgrade
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ezone-says