The Today's Headlines section of Indonesia Investments is a daily updated section which contains the latest information with regard to topics that are currently causing headlines in Indonesia's media. Most of our headlines will cover political, economic and social matters. As a consequence of their recent nature, these topics may not have crystallized fully yet and can, therefore, lack a profound analysis. For publications with a more in-depth understanding of subjects, we refer you to our News, Financial or Business columns.
Tony Fernandes, Chief Executive of Airasia, said the Malaysian group plans to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) for its Indonesia AirAsia unit on the Indonesia Stock Exchange before the end of 2017. By selling a stake of between 25-30 percent to the public, the low-cost airline aims to generate funds required for further business expansion (specifically for the purchase of new airplanes and opening of new flight routes).
The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) announced that the country's foreign exchange reserves rose USD $4.7 billion to the level of USD $127.76 billion at the end of July 2017. Growth of forex assets was primarily attributed to foreign exchange receipts, including the government's issuance of global bonds, tax revenues and government oil & gas export proceeds. Lastly, the auction of Bank Indonesia foreign exchange bills also added forex receipts.
Globalization and free market conditions (such as the ASEAN Economic Community), offer opportunities to enhance the exchange of goods and services between countries. However, it also requires good language and communication skills. Without these skills nations only have limited advantage of the freer flow of trade and services because the difficulty of communicating can undermine the flow of trade and investments.
On Monday morning (07/08) Indonesia's Statistics Agency (BPS) released the official gross domestic product (GDP) growth figure for the second quarter of 2017. The result was slightly below estimates. BPS said the Indonesian economy expanded by 5.01 percent year-on-year (y/y) in Q2-2017, while the average analyst forecast was 5.08 percent (y/y).
