Bagian Berita Hari Ini adalah bagian yang diperbarui secara teratur dan berisi informasi terkini mengenai topik-topik yang mewarnai pemberitaan di media massa Indonesia pada hari ini. Sebagian besar berita yang diterbitkan di sini meliputi hal politik, ekonomi dan sosial. Namun, seiring dengan penampilan berita terkini, tentu belum meliputi analisis yang mendalam. Silakan lihat kolom Berita, Keuangan atau Bisnis jika Anda ingin membaca topik tertentu dengan analisis yang lebih mendalam.
Concerns about emerging market contagion is pushing emerging market stocks, currencies, and bonds in deep red territory on Wednesday (05/09). Indonesia leads the decline with its benchmark Jakarta Composite Index plunging slightly over 3 percent in the first one-and-half hours of trading, while the rupiah is sliding toward the IDR 15,000 per US dollar level (its weakest position since the Asian Financial Crisis in the late-1990s).
All eyes remain on the Indonesian rupiah today (04/09). Yesterday, the Indonesian currency depreciated 0.71 percent to IDR 14,815 per US dollar (Bloomberg Dollar Index), and considering external pressures remain high the rupiah is expected to continue its decline in the foreseeable future. Authorities' efforts are able to smoothen the rupiah's weakening trend, hence avoiding sudden big slumps that could trigger panic. But to reverse the current trend of the rupiah, there are no short-term solutions.
Indonesia's consumer price index experienced 0.05 percent deflation on a month-on-month (m/m) basis in August 2018, while we had actually expected to see modest inflation (considering imported inflation is bound to rise amid rupiah weakness). However, Suhariyanto, Head of Indonesia's Statistics Bureau (BPS), said Indonesia's consumer price index fell due to a drop in food prices, such as chicken meat and chillies.
Per 1 September 2018 all vehicles and heavy machinery that have diesel engines in Indonesia will need to use diesel that contains fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), a type of fatty acid ester which is obtained from palm oil. This new rule is part of the Indonesian government's expanded B20 program that makes it mandatory for all vehicles to use biodiesel that consists of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel.
