Indonesia’s rupiah depreciated to its lowest level since mid-December 2014 nearly touching the psychological level of IDR 13,000 per US dollar ahead of Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen appearance before the US Senate Banking Committee and the US Congress (in a two-day meeting) to elaborate on the Fed’s stance on US interest rates. As US jobless claims fell more than expected, analysts believe that it will not take long before the US central bank introduces higher borrowing costs in the world’s largest economy.

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Indonesia eyes to raise IDR 20 trillion (USD $1.6 billion) from the sale of sukuk, Islamic bonds, to Indonesian citizens between 23 February and 6 March 2015. These three-year Sharia-compliant retail bonds (SR-007 retail sukuk) offer an 8.25 percent coupon rate, the highest premium over existing securities in two years. The minimum order for these bonds starts at IDR 5 million and the maximum is IDR 5 billion. The Indonesian Finance Ministry said that proceeds of the debt sales will be used to finance the country’s state-budget deficit.

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The benchmark stock index of Indonesia (Jakarta Composite Index) edged higher on Monday (23/02) to set another all-time record high supported by foreign investors’ net buying (IDR 708.2 billion), optimism that Greece will not default on its debt or exit from the Eurozone, and on gaining Southeast Asian stock markets (while markets in China were still closed due to Chinese New Year). Meanwhile, the Indonesian rupiah exchange rate depreciated 0.09 percent to IDR 12,836 per US dollar according to the Bloomberg Dollar Index.

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Pemerintah Indonesia berencana menerapkan bea masuk anti-dumping sebesar 15% pada besi untuk mencegah impor besi besar-besaran dan mendukung industri besi domestik. Indonesia bukanlah negara pertama yang memberlakukan bea masuk impor anti-dumping pada produk-produk besi. Cina menerapkan bea masuk anti-dumping pada jenis tabung-tabung stainless steel tertentu dari Jepang dan Uni Eropa (dan karenanya meningkatkan kelebihan suplai besi dunia) sementara Malaysia menerapkan bea masuk anti-dumping pada hot rolled coils yang diimpor dari Cina dan Indonesia.

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