Tuesday, 29 January, 2008 | 15:54 WIB TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The growth of property in the retail sector this year is predicted to reach its peak, or highest demand. After the 1998 economic crisis, this sector grew ahead of other sectors. Property consultant, PT Property Advisory Indonesia (Provis), Arif Rahardjo, said that the sluggish retail growth is caused by the price of rent and the Rupiah’s weakening exchange rate against the United States Dollar.

Agustina Wayansari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta The price of industrial estates is likely to remain stable in Jakarta and Greater Jakarta this year due to slow demand, recent research shows. "Considering demand is likely to remain slow this year, prices are expected to remain stable at around Rp 554,000 (approximately US$61.5) per square meter," PT Property Advisory Indonesia (Provis) associate partner Arief Rahardjo told reporters Monday.

Advertising expenditure grew 17% last year as mobile phone operators stepped up competition, Bloomberg reported. Total spending rose to Rp35.12 trillion ($3.7 billion) from Rp30.03 trillion a year earlier, Maika Randini, business development manager of Nielsen Media Research, said. The 2007 growth mirrored the previous year's growth. Mobile-phone companies ranked top last year, spending Rp2.77 trillion, a 40% increase from the previous year.

West Nusa Tenggara Governor HL Serinata laid a foundation stone on January 19 to officially commence construction work on the Lombok International Airport, The Jakarta Post reported. The new airport will be located in Tanak Awu village, Central Lombok Regency, around 35 km from Mataram. Serinata said he hoped the establishment and operation of a new airport would connect people directly to strategic international businesses.

The world`s largest organic fertilizer plant with a production capacity of 300,000 tons per year is expected to begin operating in West Kalimantan in the middle of this year, a local agricultural official said, Antara reported Monday (21/1/08). "The plant is scheduled to become operational in the middle of this year after its raw-material-processing machines have been installed in June," the head of the West Kalimantan provincial agriculture office, Mazairin, said.

South Korean auto-maker Hyundai Motor Co. plans to invest $40 million in its truck and bus assembly plant in Indonesia, local reports said Friday (25/1/08), Xinhua reported. The investment will go to local subsidiary PT Korindo Heavy Industry which manufactures bus and truck chassis with a capacity of 10,000 truck chassis and 1,500 bus chassis a year. Hyundai has sold 1,132 buses since its debut in the Indonesian heavy vehicle market in June 2007.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government is considering setting up a specialised bank that focuses on providing long-term financing only for infrastructure projects, a central bank deputy governor said on Monday. The government estimates Southeast Asia's biggest economy needs to spend around $140 billion over the next several years to develop the country's ailing infrastructure including toll roads, rails and ports.

Only an economic crisis could bring down President Soeharto, a political analyst once commented in the early 1990s when the authoritarian ruler began serving his sixth consecutive term with an ever stronger autocracy. President Soeharto's regime fell along with the economic collapse in May, 1998. That showed how crucial his economic achievements had been in maintaining his political legitimacy for some 32 years despite a stunted political system.