Indonesia Investments' News Columns section contains articles with a detailed analysis regarding topics that have high news value in Indonesia and can be regarded as topics that are capable of influencing Indonesia's investment climate. Most columns published in this section cover subjects related to politics, economics and social matters. By following these publications on a regular basis, one will be apprised of what is happening in Indonesia and - just as important - understand why it is happening.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared Wednesday 19 April 2017 a public holiday for citizens in Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta. This decision, made through a presidential decree, will make it easier for locals to cast their votes in the second round of the Jakarta gubernatorial election, a tight race between incumbent Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (better known as Ahok) and former education minister Anies Baswedan.
Indonesia's Tourism Ministry is optimistic it can boost the number of American tourists who visit Indonesia by 25 percent to 375,000 individuals in 2017. Last year a total of 300,000 US citizens visited Indonesia for a holiday, up 11 percent year-on-year (y/y) from US visitor arrivals in the preceding year. Arief Yahya, Indonesian Tourism Minister, said the island of Bali is the favorite tourist destination for American tourists in Indonesia.
Over the past couple of years there have been many reports about Indonesia's beef mafia (referring to certain cartel practices in the nation's beef industry; practices that come at the expense of the Indonesian consumer as prices are kept high intentionally). A new report published on Beef Central on Monday (10/04) discusses why beef prices have not become more affordable for Indonesian consumers despite the government allowing imports of cheap frozen buffalo meat in mid-2016.
Although the Indonesian government has been eager to improve the nation's investment climate in a bid to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) and thus boost economic growth of Indonesia, it is widely known that conditions in Indonesia's investment climate remain somewhat troublesome, reflected by the nation's mediocre ranking in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index 2017. Here it ranks 91 out of 190 countries across the globe.
