The presence of ‘something foreign’ in Indonesia is often still a somewhat sensitive issue. And, we would not be surprised if it is the country’s prolonged colonial period – when foreign forces (particularly the Dutch) came to the Archipelago in search of commodities – that brings back traumatic memories from the past. This history may thus also explain why Indonesia – today – shows a relatively high degree of economic nationalism and resource nationalism.

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Last month we were still a bit pessimistic about Indonesia’s trade performance, with bleak imports into Indonesia being the main reason (while the country’s impressive export performance is nice, but essentially the result of Indonesia’s over-dependence on raw commodity prices, which is actually a structural weakness of Southeast Asia’s largest economy).

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As we have mentioned on various occasions in our updates and reports before, the year 2020 was a very tough one for airlines. The social and business restrictions that governments imposed across the world in an effort to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus took a huge toll.

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Digital banks will soon become a reality for Indonesians. Chief Executive of Banking Supervision of Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (in Indonesian: Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, or OJK) Heru Kristiyana recently confirmed that this supervisory agency is currently drafting regulations for the establishment of digital banks in Indonesia.

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