April 7, 2015 edition

In the beginning it was a dinner party at the Palace. On Thursday, March 12, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo invited a number of palm oil entrepreneurs for an evening of Padang food. "It was a relaxed program. There was a buffet of food, but the theme of the night was serious," Managing Director of Sinar Mas Group, Gandi Sulistiyanto, related about the event on the phone last Wednesday.
Gandi accompanied his big boss, Franky Widjaja that evening. According to Gandi, the President focused discussions on the weakening rupiah. Collectively, the oil palm magnates represent Indonesia's largest non-oil and non-gas export foreign exchange earner. If the value of their exports was retained in-country, foreign exchange reserves could strengthen and keep the rupiah from slipping further.

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More Economy articles in other editions

January 1, 1970 edition

Doni Tirtana, owner of Lorco Menara Multimedia, is carefully re-calculating production costs for a number of his firm's projects this year. One of his clients, a multinational oil mining company, has requested some changes to a contract involving the production of computer-training tutorials. Doni was asked to bring down the price, which he will achieve by replacing the voice talent. "Usually, we use expatriate voice talent. Now we are using local voice talent," Doni told Tempo on Tuesday last week. "The savings are quite significant, about 50 percent."

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January 1, 1970 edition

Sunari's nimble feet criss-crossed his coffee plantation in Sidomulyo village, Jember, East Java. Suddenly he stopped, kneeling to tend to a crop of young shoots sprouting on the ground. Fatigue from the heat was no deterrent; along with hundreds of other robusta coffee farmers, he was already imagining the windfall from the plunging value of the rupiah against the US dollar.
Historically, coffee exports soar when the dollar strengthens, boosting the incomes of Sidomulyo farmers significantly. "We will be able to replace our television antenna with a parabolic one," Sunari said last Thursday.

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January 1, 1970 edition

Nerves Are Tested As Rupiah Exceeds 13,000
The rupiah continues to fluctuate, nervously closing at a low of Rp13,206 per US dollar, testing market nerves. This exceeds the upper five percent limit from the Rp12,500 per US dollar level posted by the government in its revised 2015 budget. And although the monetary authorities appear comfortable with the current level as it keeps Indonesias exports competitively in line with regional currencies, it hurts those that rely on imports and those with US dollar liabilities. Foreign funds are starting to leave as well although in manageable amounts. Net foreign buy positions for both stocks and bonds have turned into net sell positions since last week.

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January 1, 1970 edition

HALF an hour into his lunch break on Thursday last week, Candra Setiawan remained seated at the food stall. With a glass of warm tea sitting untouched on the table before him, the 26-year-old man admitted he was reluctant to return to the Chevrolet assembly plant in Pondok Ungu, Bekasi, West Java for his afternoon shift. "I get lazy. It's different now," he said.
As a graduate of a vocational high school automotive engineering program, Candra felt he had found a job well-suited to his skills and ambitions. But two years after joining General Motors (GM) Indonesia, he is vexed by the recent news: the Bekasi assembly plant, where GM manufactures its Chevrolet Spin car, will be closing. And soon. The 500 others employed at the plant no doubt share his anxiety.

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March 3, 2015 edition

A FULL 24 hours after a unilateral cancellation of flights by Lion Mentari Airlines on February 12, hundreds of passengers were still standing in line at the Terminal 3, Soekarno-Hatta Airport shopping complex, Tangerang, waiting for refunds. Some of those waiting were actually stranded by previously delayed flights.

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February 24, 2015 edition

The World Bank recently criticized the Indonesia Health Card (KIS) program for focusing too much on enrollment and not enough on improving the quality of public health services.
"Issuing cards but not paying attention to health services is an empty promise," said World Bank economist Cristobal Ridao-Cano during a presentation on the Bank's findings and recommendations on health spending in their December 2014 Indonesia Economic Quarterly report at their Jakarta headquarters.

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