There are 20 state-controlled, yet publicly-listed (on the Indonesia Stock Exchange) companies that have poor financial ratios, reflected by a high debt-to-equity ratio. This ratio indicates how much debt a company uses to finance its assets relative to the value of shareholders' equity, thus it measures a company's financial leverage. The ratio is calculated by dividing the company's total liabilities by its stockholders' equity.

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One of the leading global credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor's (S&P), decided to keep Indonesia's sovereign rating at BBB-/stable outlook (investment grade status). This is a positive message considering Indonesia has recently been under heavy pressure amid volatile global capital flows. Meanwhile, Indonesia's current account deficit (CAD) widened significantly in the first quarter of 2018. Indonesia's current account balance (which turned into a structural deficit since late-2011) is among the concerns shared by credit rating agencies.

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In the already busy initial public offering (IPO) month of May, two more companies were added to the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Wednesday (23/05): (1) Sarimelati Kencana, the operator of the Pizza Hut chain in Indonesia, and (2) Guna Timur Raya, an integrated logistics solutions provider. This brings the total number of IPOs in Indonesia so far in 2018 to 16. In May alone a total of seven companies made their trading debut on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Thus, Indonesia is on track to set a new record in terms of IPO realizations this year.

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The Indonesian government set a 80 percent cap on foreign ownership in Indonesian insurance companies through Government Regulation No. 14/2018 on Foreign Ownership of Insurance Companies. Suahasil Nazara, Fiscal Policy Head at Indonesia's Finance Ministry, said foreigners can remain controlling a big stake (up to 80 percent) in the domestic insurance industry because it is believed that domestic insurance players still need the knowledge and capital that strategic foreign investors bring from abroad.

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