• Pence Brings Home $10 Billion of Indonesia-US Business Deals

    The visit of American Vice President Mike Pence to Indonesia was fruitful in terms of investment. A total of 11 commercial and investment deals were signed between Indonesian and US companies that is estimated to have a combined value of USD $10 billion. On Thursday morning (20/04) Pence met Indonesian President Joko Widodo to discuss overcoming obstacles that limit bilateral trade and investment between both nations. One day later Pence departed to Australia.

    Read more ›

  • Prosecutors Demand Two Years Probation in Ahok's Blasphemy Case

    It is no surprise that Jakarta prosecution only demands a relatively light sentence for incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (better known by his nickname Ahok) for his alleged blasphemous speech in late-2016. On Thursday (20/04) prosecution announced their recommendation of two years of probation for Ahok. The announcement came (deliberately) one day after the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election. Based on the quick count results Ahok was defeated by Anies Baswedan in this election and so we assume that this blasphemy trial has now lost its significance.

    Read more ›

  • Impact of Jakarta Election on Indonesia's Rupiah & Stocks

    Yesterday's Jakarta gubernatorial election seems to have little impact on the performance of Indonesian stocks and the rupiah today (20/04). While Indonesia's benchmark Jakarta Composite Index is cautiously higher (in line with the general trend of Asian stocks this morning), the Indonesian rupiah had depreciated 0.10 percent to IDR 13,332 per US dollar (Bloomberg Dollar Index) by 10:00 am local Jakarta time on Thursday (20/04). The rupiah performance is slightly out of tune with most other Asian currencies but its weakening is still rather insignificant.

    Read more ›

  • Live Blog & Quick Count Results Jakarta Election: Ahok vs Baswedan

    After 07:00 am Western Indonesian time zone on Wednesday (19/04), the citizens of Jakarta started to vote for their new governor. It was the second (and final) round of the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election. In this round the two leaders of the first round (where no candidate managed to obtain the absolute majority of votes) had a face-off. Below, Indonesia Investments provided a short live blog covering the key developments as well as updates of the various quick count results that came in after 14:00 pm local Jakarta time.

    Read more ›