The crude palm oil (CPO) price continues to rise supported by the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon. El Nino causes a dry spell in Southeast Asia, home to the world's largest palm oil plantations. As a result, CPO inventories in Malaysia may have declined to 2.11 million tons, an 11-month low in February 2016. Meanwhile, Singapore-based agribusiness trader Olam International Ltd said CPO stocks will decline to the range of 1.5 - 2.0 million tons in the second quarter of 2016. Obstacles to higher CPO prices are Malaysia's strengthening ringgit (which curtails demand for Malaysian palm oil) and attractive prices of soybean oil.

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The Indonesian rupiah is flirting with the IDR 13,000 per US dollar level on Monday (07/03) supported by improving risk appetite of investors. By 13:40 pm local Jakarta time, the currency of Indonesia had appreciated 0.64 percent to IDR 13,047 per US dollar (Bloomberg Dollar Index). The rupiah is now on a 13-day 'winning streak', its longest rally in six years, and is the second-best performing emerging market currency after Brazil's real so far this year. What is behind this good performance, and is it sustainable?

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Indonesia's state bonds are expected to remain a popular investment instrument in the second quarter of 2016 - perhaps even the most popular instrument - due to stable and more attractive yields compared to other investment instruments. Although the Indonesian rupiah and the benchmark stock index (Jakarta Composite Index) have both strengthened markedly over the past week (particularly supported by higher crude oil prices), the global economy remains plagued by uncertainties (China's economic slowdown and possible higher borrowing costs in the USA). Analysts say that in this context investor appetite for Indonesian bonds increases.

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On 6 March 2016, Indonesia Investments released the latest edition of its newsletter. This free newsletter, which is sent to our subscribers once per week, contains the most important news stories from Indonesia that have been reported on our website over the last seven days. Most of the topics involve economic matters such as the performance of the rupiah, February inflation & manufacturing activity, financial sustainability of Indonesia's health insurance program, Sukri bonds, public accountability, natural resources, and more.

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