well, according to official figures, inflation for Jan-Dec 2006 was 6.6%. "crap", you say? perhaps that's why the World Bank has it's own way of looking at indonesia's economy. just read what the moron from the BPS was rabbitting on about. then ask yourself, can i trust their statistics?

Kuku, any idea what the inflation rate for last year (not sure if I even trust the official number)? It will be interesting to see what the COLA for gov't workers will be.

While welcoming President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's speech on Wednesday, which emphasized the need to intensify efforts to boost investment, economists say that now is the time for "less talk and more action." "Investors are still waiting to see what the government will do to improve the investment climate here," Danareksa chief economist Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said Thursday.

Frontline Technologies Corporation Ltd., a Singapore-based IT services provider, has agreed to purchase a 49 percent stake in PT E Metrodata Com (EMC) -- a subsidiary of publicly listed IT company PT Metrodata Electronics. The deal is worth US$1.9 million. Metrodata, which commenced doing business here 32 years ago as a wholesale IT hardware distributor, expanded into outsourcing IT services in 1999.

State-owned agroindustry firm PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (RNI) is planning to develop three bioenergy plants worth US$58 million to produce bioethanol and electricity by 2009. RNI's director for business development, Son Ramadir, said Wednesday that one of the plants would be constructed at the company's Jatitujuh sugar factory in Cirebon, West Java, and would produce 100 kiloliters of bioethanol per day.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said it will use a new inflation rating system starting in July 2008 based upon a cost of living survey to be carried out this year. "This year, we will conduct the cost of living survey to find a new package of commodities or a new consideration diagram because the inflation calculation diagram of 2002 has become outdated," BPS Chief Rusman Heriawan said here on Thursday.

State oil firm PT Pertamina has embarked on an internal reform program under new leadership and has reaped billions of dollars in investments to double its oil and gas output.

The country’s domestic vehicle sales are likely to rise 25% this year, marking a recovery in the sector hit by high interest rates and weak purchasing power, a trade body said on Thursday (25/1/07). High fuel prices and interest rates sent vehicle sales down 40% last year to 318,883 units after a historic high of 533,910 in the previous year.

Hutchison Telecommunications International, which has operations from Hong Kong to Ghana, says it is on track to start offering mobile telephone services in Indonesia this quarter. The company also clarified its commitment to its Indonesian mobile business with planned capital expenditure of $750 million for the three years up to 2008, a Hutchison Telecom spokesman was quoted as saying by The South China Morning Post.

Major retailers expect sales growth of about 17% this year, slightly lower than the 20% recorded in 2006. "We have calculated all the figures gathered from our members and have come up with a sales growth target of 17% from about Rp50.8 trillion ($5.64 billion) last year," Association of Indonesian Retailers (Aprindo) chairman, Handaka Santosa, said on Thursday (25/1/07).

Saudi Arabian conglomerate the Savola Group plans to invest $2 billion in a number of business areas in Indonesia. The group will team up with local partners to do business in the food and beverage industry, retail business, agribusiness and property sector, an executive of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Rudi Rusli, said, adding that the group plans to open hypermarkets in the country.

Five companies have expressed interest in taking part in a $1.517-billion broadband fiber optic mega-project tender, an official said Tuesday (23/1/07). "The five companies have already met requirements for participation in the tender on the Palapa Ring mega-project," Yusuf Iskandar, Director General of Post and Telecommunications, said on the sidelines of an Information Communication and Telecommunication Summit 2007, Antara reported.

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has promised to start the Agrarian Reform Program or distribution of land for the people starting this year. “This is what I call as the principle of “Land for People’s Justice and Welfare,” said the President in his state of the nation address at Merdeka Palace, yesterday (31/1). The 59-page speech started at around 4.15pm and ended at 6.45pm without the United Indonesia cabinet ministers’ attendance.

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Cisco Systems, a telecommunication network provider operator, dominates around 70 percent of the Indonesian market. To expand the scope of its income, Cisco has carried out expansion by now providing product services to end-users. Pudja Unggul Kartiman, the Director of Small & Medium Enterprise of Cisco Systems, said that so far Cisco tended to be known as a network provider operator. With the services expansion, Cisco is actually re-defining its brand.

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Indonesian Vegetable Oil Industry Association (GIMNI) has proposed that the crude palm oil (CPO) export levy be seven percent rather than 1.5 percent. The proposal has taken into account the capabilities of downstream industries and palm oil farmers. Martua Sitorus, GIMNI General Chairman, said businesspeople agreed and supported the government’s plan to develop CPO downstream industries. “Indonesia has been exporting CPO for 30 years.

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The House Budget Commission has said it considers that the shares ownership domination by Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte. Ltd (STT) is too large. Telecom’s involvement in PT Indonesian Satellite Corporation Tbk. (Indosat) has made international Internet network tariff in Indonesia more expensive. The result of this is that internet growth has been very low. Therefore, the House Budget Commission supports the government’s buying back of Indosat shares.