Although external factors provided some leeway for the country's footwear industry to boost overall output last year, it failed to live up to its potential because persisting operational obstacles continued to undermine its performance. A high-cost economy, complicated labor laws, a lack of raw materials and a continuous flow of cheap smuggled shoes into the country were among the classic problems the government failed to address last year in a bid to help boost the industry's competitiveness.

Monday, 28 January, 2008 | 12:58 WIB TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Compared to investors in other countries, investors in Indonesia are extremely optimistic that the US economy, which is now sluggish due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis, will improve soon. The optimism of Indonesian investors is also reflected in the ING Investor Sentiment Index released by ING - a Dutch financial institution, last week in Hong Kong.

Local Tourism Observer Calls on Bali Tourism Board to Collect, Analyze and Carefully Reflect on Tourism Data. (1/27/2008) In an op-ed piece published in the Bali Post, a tourism commentator, who writes under the name "Gregorius," has called on Bali to pay more attention to the collection and analysis of tourism data.

JAKARTA (JP): Analysts stressed on Monday the need for the country's forestry-related companies to speed up the adoption of ecolabeling in orderto maintain their export market and ensure the sustainability of forest resources. World Wide Fund for Nature's executive director Agus Purnomo said most importers and consumers in developed countries demanded that timber products be derived from sustainably managed forests.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government required all coal mining concessionaires to supply all of part of their coal to the domestic market. Mineral and Coal Director General at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Simon Sembiring said in Jakarta on Friday that under the contracts with the government the coal producers are required to prioritize domestic consumption, then exports. "This requirement is carried in the contracts," he said.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Developers said that property industry in Indonesia was predicted to grow at 5 to 10 percent in 2008 only due to market uncertainty and various economic turbulences at home and abroad. "The property industry is predicted to grow at five to ten percent only due to economic turbulences at home and abroad," Johannes Mardjuki, president director of PT Summarecon Agung Tbk, said here on Saturday.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia's trade surplus is expected to widen in December from November as exports bounce back while imports slow down, according to economists polled by Thomson Financial. The Central Bureau of Statistics will release the trade data next Friday. Five out of six economists polled by Thomson Financial expect the trade surplus to widen, with just one expecting it to narrow.