Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Friday the current global liquidity crisis has only led to a 0.1 percent drop in Indonesia`s gross domestic product (GDP). "Indonesia is one of the Asian countries recording the lowest declines in GDP," he told the press after Friday prayers at his office here.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has predicted Indonesia`s exports to the United States in the fourth quarter of 2008 may fall up to 20 percent from the previous quarter as a result of financial crisis. "Exports to the US may fall 20 percent.

The country's manufacturing sector grew by an estimated 3.85 percent to 4 percent in the third quarter of this year. The figure in the July-September period was lower than the 4.43 percent growth recorded in the second quarter. Business associations say this was the result of higher production costs and the impact of the global economic slowdown.

Indonesia, the world's largest palm oil producer, has sent Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono to lobby the European Union (EU), over concerns the group were planning a policy that would limit imports of the commodity. After arriving in Jakarta on Tuesday from a week-long visit to the continent, Anton said Indonesian and Malaysian representatives met EU parliamentarians, assuring them the palm oil produced by the two countries met emission standards set by the EU.

The Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) says Indonesia needs clear-cut strategies to protect local products amid a mushrooming number of bilateral and regional free trade agreements. Such protection could be in the form of incentives or policies that favor local businesses, Kadin's vice president of trade and distribution, Ketut Suardhana Linggih, said on Thursday. Developed countries like Japan and the U.S.

The World Bank aims to partner with Indonesia in strengthening its institutions to translate valuable resources into better development outcomes Press Release No:2009/076/ EAP Washington DC, September 11, 2008 – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today endorsed a new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for Indonesia which will see the World Bank Group supporting Indonesia’s development priorities, with emphasis on strengthening national institutions.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has urged the government to strengthen local retail traders so that they would not be run over by foreign interests operating modern marketplaces. "Unless they are strengthened they will be more suppressed," Kadin`s Vice Chairman for Trade and Distribution Ketut Suardhana Linggih said on the sidelines of a Kadin coordination meeting here Thursday.