Indonesia’s rupiah exchange rate continued to depreciate on Wednesday (07/01). Based on the Bloomberg Dollar Index, the currency had depreciated 0.66 percent to IDR 12,731 per US dollar by 15:50 pm local Jakarta time amid prolonged weak global sentiments. Falling oil prices signal sluggish global economic growth - with the exception of the US economy which is showing structural recovery and thus fuels expectation of higher US interest rates - and speculation that Greece may exit the Eurozone.

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In the past few days, American and Australian authorities announced to detect a high degree of potential terrorist attacks in Indonesia, reportedly related to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) movement. ISIS is an outlawed movement in Indonesia but does have sympathizers in the world’s largest archipelago containing the world’s largest Muslim population (about 210 million Muslims). Last Saturday (03/01), the US embassy issued a security warning for US-associated hotels and banks in the city of Surabaya (East Java).

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Indonesia’s cocoa bean production is expected to range between 500,000 and 700,000 tons in 2015 according to the Indonesian Cocoa Industry Association (AIKI), up from an estimated 485,000 tons in 2014. Earlier, the Indonesian government pledged to launch a USD $95 million cocoa revitalization program in the second quarter of 2015 in an ambitious attempt to double the nation’s cocoa output within a two year period. Indonesia’s Agriculture Ministry targets domestic cocoa bean output of at least one million tons per year.

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Indonesia has suspended several officials in connection to the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 disaster after preliminary results of the investigation indicate that the AirAsia airplane was not authorized to fly on Sundays (hence detecting a flight schedule violation). The AirAsia plane went down in the Java Sea on Sunday 28 December 2014, en route from Surabaya (East Java) to Singapore, presumably killing all 162 people on board. Authorities have barred the airline from flying this route until the investigation is over.

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