• Downstream Palm Oil Industry of Indonesia in Development

    Bayu Krisnamurthi, President Director of the Indonesian Oil Palm Estate Fund (BPDP-KS), said total exports of palm oil and its derivatives in the first quarter of 2016 reached 7.42 million tons. It is interesting to note that 87.2 percent of this total figure (or 6.47 million tons) comprises processed palm oil products, while the remainder consists of crude palm oil (CPO), implying that the downstreaming of the palm oil sector is developing smoothly. Krisnamurthi says the imposition of export levies on CPO has managed to encourage the development of downstream industries in the nation's palm oil sector.

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  • Indonesia's Gini Ratio Fell in 2015; Concerns about Social Cohesion Persist

    Indonesia's Gini ratio (or Gini coefficient), which measures the degree of inequality in income distribution, improved slightly in September 2015. According to the latest data published by Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the Gini ratio of Indonesia fell from 0.41 in March 2015 to 0.40 in September 2015, indicating that income distribution inequality slightly declined (a coefficient of zero expresses perfect equality, while a reading of 1 implies maximal inequality). The modest improvement occurred in the urban areas of Indonesia where the Gini ratio fell 0.1 point to 0.43. In the rural areas the ratio remained stagnant at 0.33.

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  • Trade Balance Indonesia: Import of Food Products Up, Capital Goods Down

    In terms of trade, imports into Indonesia in Q1-2016 were dominated by food and beverage products. In fact, Indonesia's Statistics Agency (BPS) detected a staggering jump in food and beverage imports: imports of primary food and beverage items rose 32 percent (y/y) to USD $364 million in Q1-2016, while imports of processed food items surged 75 percent (y/y) to USD $886 million over the same period. This major jump cannot be explained by a massive increase in Indonesians' purchasing power or a sudden rapidly expanding (as well as hungry) population.

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  • Indonesia Confirms Participation in ASEAN Open Sky Agreement

    Through the implementation of Presidential Regulation No.12/2016, Indonesia confirmed its participation in the ASEAN Open Sky policy (also known as the ASEAN Single Aviation Market). This policy comprises the multilateral agreement of all ten ASEAN member countries to unite their skies into one single aviation market (hence liberalizing regulations to a large degree). By enhancing connectivity (implying an easier flow of people and cargo) the ASEAN member nations target to boost the region’s economic growth. ASEAN is home to more than 600 million people.

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