State-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina plans to exit its biofuel business by the end of this year as a result of continuing losses. Pertamina marketing and trading director Achmad Faisal said that the company had no other choice but to get out of the sector as its biofuel products -- BioSolar and BioPremium -- had resulted in the company losing Rp 16.9 billion (US$1.8 million).

JAKARTA - A rumbling row between Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla and two top technocrats charged with overseeing economic policy is hampering the implementation of the government's infrastructure spending drive and generating high-level political tensions. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reportedly came under extraordinary political pressure from Kalla's camp to shake up his economic team during a highly anticipated cabinet reshuffle announced this week.