Indonesia's real sector is still hampered by poor infrastructure and access to financing, resulting in continued slow growth despite stable macroeconomic conditions. These problems, which had been increasing in severity since the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, could not be simply resolved by the central bank's rate cuts and easing of lending rules alone, Bank Indonesia Senior Deputy Governor Miranda S. Goeltom said Wednesday.

JAKARTA (AP): Indonesia will announce new policies to improve investment in the country this week, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Boediono said Wednesday. The policies will be unveiled in one to two days, he said, without giving further details. Investors have been increasingly reluctant to invest in Indonesia since former President Soeharto's fall in 1998 and the loss of certainty in investment structures.

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Crude palm oil (CPO) producers are to be obligated to set aside some of their products for domestic needs. The domestic market obligation (DPO) policy will come into effect as from June 1, 2007. “The DPO implementation is a mandate of the State Decree on Plantations,” said Anton Apriyantono, Agriculture Minister, after accepting bird flu vaccine aid from Chinese government at the Agriculture Department building, Jakarta, yesterday (29/5).

Small and medium enterprises in Yogyakarta, the mainstays of the province's economy, have started to show signs of recovery after last year's earthquake. The recovery of SMEs in Bantul regency, the area worst affected, had now reached 60 percent.

The Indonesian unit of one of the world's biggest cigarette producers, British American Tobacco Plc., will focus on the sale of premium-brand cigarettes to offset losses resulting from declining sales in its mid-range cigarettes, a company executive says. "We will focus on our premium brands. We believe we can win in the premium non-clove cigarette segment," Harold Paul Hutabarat, the marketing director of BAT Indonesia, said Wednesday.

The Post and Telecommunications Directorate General says it will follow up on the findings of the University of Indonesia's Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM-UI) on indications of price fixing involving Telkomsel and Indosat. "We have been receiving reports indicating this for quite some time. However, this one is of greater weight as it comes from the LPEM-UI. We will take action on foot of the report," spokesman for the directorate general, Gatos S.