Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The State Ministry of State Enterprises (BUMN) is to speed up the formation of a new geothermal mining company to explore and exploit geothermal potentials in the country, a spokesman said. "We do need to set up several new state companies soon, among other things, to develop our geothermal potentials," secretary to the state enterprises minister Muh. Said Didu said here on Wednesday.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government has raised the crude palm oil (CPO) benchmark export price for March 2008 shipments by US$44 from US$944 to US$988 per metric ton , a spokesman said. Director for agriculture and forestry product export affairs at the Trade Ministry, Erfandi Thabrani, said the CPO export benchmark price was raised based on the reference price of US$1,064 per ton in Rotterdam.

KPPU the Indonesian anti monopoly commission made big news last year for its findings in respect of alleged anti competitive behavior in the telecommunication industry. It seems again there are games going on at "the top end of town" and these have been covered exhaustively. The question is where are the anti monopolists when dealing with the reality of the obfuscation of pricing the predominately poorly educated face in everyday life in Indonesia?

The state of land transportation is not only poor but seems to be getting worse, a seminar revealed, citing a global survey that put Indonesia's ranking in a worse position this year than last year. Bambang Susantono, deputy to the coordinating minister for the economy for infrastructure and regional development, said Tuesday that Indonesia was ranked 91 among 131 countries surveyed by the World Economic Forum in the transportation infrastructure area. Indonesia was 89th last year.

with all the smuggling that goes on with electronic items in indonesia, i'd be surprised if any tax on those items you bought ended up in govt coffers.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government has approved the tariff team`s proposal to exempt electronic products from luxury sales tax (PPnBM), the team`s chief said. "We have just discussed (the proposal to exempt) electronic products from PPnBM with the Finance Ministry. The proposal has been approved and will later be submitted to the finance minister," Erwidodo said on Tuesday.

The bill on halal product assurance, being drawn up by the government, is expected to become the center of controversy in the country when deliberated in the House of Representatives. The most contentious issue in the debate is the Indonesian Ulema Council's (MUI) demand for halal certification to be made obligatory in the draft law. The council is also seeking to retain its authority in administrating and issuing halal certificates for food, drugs and cosmetic products.