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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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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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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Stock markets in Asia are plagued by the failure to see an 'oil freeze deal' reached at OPEC's oil talks in Doha over the weekend. Saudi Arabia announced it will not curtail its oil production as long as other oil producing countries do not curtail production as well. It specifically wants its geopolitical rival Iran to join the production freeze. However, Iran decided not to join the meeting and ruled out any output cuts after recently rejoining the international oil market (due to the lifting of sanctions). Iran indicated it is not cut any output before its oil production reaches the pre-sanction level.

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