• Indonesia’s Foreign Exchange Assets Rise to $112 Billion in October

    The central bank of Indonesia announced on Friday (07/11) that the country’s foreign exchange reserves grew slightly in October 2014. At the end of the month, the reserves stood at USD $112 billion (from USD $111.2 billion at the end of the previous month). The central bank said that these reserves increased mainly on government export receipts in the oil & gas sector, as well as growth of banks’ foreign currency deposits at Bank Indonesia. This growth exceeded government external debt payments.

    Lanjut baca ›

  • Islamic Finance in Indonesia: Sharia Banking is Large Untapped Potential

    Having the world’s largest Muslim population and experiencing sustained economic growth at a pace of +5 percent implies that Indonesia harbours great potential for Islamic finance (sharia banking). However, Indonesia is yet to tap the full potential of the Islamic financial services market. As an illustration, with a figure of USD $24 billion, Indonesia’s Islamic banks only held 4.9 percent of the country’s total banking assets in 2013. This is small compared to Malaysia (where Islamic banking holds a 20 percent market share).

    Lanjut baca ›

  • Crude Palm Oil Update: Prices & Production in Indonesia & Malaysia

    Forecasts for crude palm oil (CPO) futures in 2015 are positive as prices are expected to rise on declining inventories in Malaysia, growing Indian CPO imports, and falling Indonesian CPO exports as domestic biodiesel demand rises in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Malaysian palm oil futures rose to a four-month high at the start of the week (touching 2,345 ringgit per metric ton) partly due to sharp ringgit depreciation (which makes CPO relatively cheap for other currency-holders). However, today (06/11) futures fell 1.3 percent to 2,223 ringgit.

    Lanjut baca ›

  • Unemployment Rate of Indonesia Rises Slightly in August 2014

    Amid slowing economic growth, Indonesia’s unemployment rate increased slightly in August 2014. On Wednesday (05/11), Statistics Indonesia announced that 7.24 million Indonesians, or 5.94 percent of the country’s labour force, were without a job. In the previous unemployment report (covering conditions in the month February 2014), Indonesia’s unemployment rate stood at 5.70 percent of the country’s labour force (about 7.15 million Indonesians). The government agency releases Indonesia’s unemployment data twice per year.

    Lanjut baca ›