In its "war on tax evasion" Indonesia scored another victory by reaching an agreement ("Bilateral Competent Authority Agreement") with Hong Kong to share data of Indonesian taxpayers who hold accounts in the Asian wealth management hub. Indonesia's Tax Office assumes (or better: knows) there are plenty of wealthy Indonesians who take advantage of the low tax regime in Hong Kong and deliberately do not report these funds to Indonesian authorities.

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The number of foreign tourists that visited Indonesia in the first six months of 2013 grew 7.2 percent to 4.15 million compared to the same period in 2012. Elka Pangestu, minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, said that there has been a significant surge in visitors from Asia and the Middle East. Foreign visitor arrivals originating from the United Arab Emirates rose 91 percent, followed by Saudi Arabia (22.8 percent), China (19.2 percent), Egypt (17.1 percent) and Hong Kong (16 percent).

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Although the International Monetary Fund (IMF) retains its positive outlook regarding Asia's economic growth for the foreseeable future, the institution warns that the enormous influx of foreign capital in recent years can result in a new bubble due to excessive growth in lending and property prices. Despite these concerns, the IMF expects Asia to grow 5.75 percent in 2013 and calls Asia the leader of global economic recovery, followed by the US and, lastly, Europe.

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An alarming report was released by the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 1 October 2019. In the report the WTO notes that ongoing global trade tensions, led by tariff troubles between the United States and China, are doing harm to global economic growth in ways not seen since the financial crisis one decade ago.

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The Indonesian rupiah exchange rate depreciated in August 2019. The currency started the month at the level of IDR 14,026 per US dollar, but ended the month at IDR 14,237 per US dollar (data taken from Bank Indonesia’s benchmark Jisdor rate). In other words, the rupiah weakened 1.50 percent against greenback in August 2019.

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The global environment has not improved in August 2019. In fact, it has deteriorated as reflected by declining stock indices in most parts of the world as well as a record-setting trend for the price of gold (known for being one of the world’s crucial safe haven assets).

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The benchmark stock index of Indonesia (Jakarta Composite Index, abbreviated IHSG) rose 0.18 percent to 5,142.01 points on Monday (29/09) despite the sharp depreciation of the Indonesian rupiah exchange rate. Possibly market participants took advantage of relatively cheap blue chip stocks after the 1.3 percent drop on Friday (26/09) caused by negative market sentiments brought about by the parliament’s passing of a bill which abolishes direct voting of regional leaders. Foreign investors recorded net selling of IDR 542.4 billion.

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