Indonesian tobacco giant Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna (HM Sampoerna), subsidiary of Philip Morris International, is studying the requirement to increase its free float ratio from (a mere) 1.82 percent to 7.50 percent. Last year, the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) announced that it would force listed companies to offer at least 7.50 percent of their enlarged equity to the public. This rule will come into effect in January 2016. HM Sampoerna is the third-largest Indonesian company in terms of market capitalization (IDR 295 trillion).

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Domestic car sales in Indonesia were slightly down in 2014 compared to the previous year. Amid the slowing economy (Indonesia’s GDP growth may have fallen from 5.8 percent in 2013 to 5.1 percent in 2014) and political uncertainty (triggered by the fragmented results of the country’s legislative and presidential elections) car sales totaled 1.21 million units in 2014, down 1.8 percent from 1.23 million sold vehicles in 2013, according to the latest data from the Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo).

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Major chocolate producers recently warned that worldwide economic growth in combination with global population growth will result in a cocoa deficit in a few years hence prices of chocolate are estimated to rise. Especially chocolate consumption in China has risen robustly in recent years. In 2010, the population of China consumed 40,000 tons of chocolate. However, this has now risen by 75 percent to 70,000 tons. Moreover, consumption of dark chocolate, which contains a higher degree of cocoa, has grown in the USA.

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The current account deficit of Indonesia, which is expected to have improved slightly from 3.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013 to about 3 percent of GDP in 2014, is forecast to continue to improve in 2015 hence placing less pressures on the rupiah exchange rate and the economy in general. A wide current account deficit makes the country vulnerable to capital outflows in times of global shocks (for example looming higher US interest rates) as the deficit signals that Indonesia relies on foreign funding.

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