The government on Friday vowed at the National Summit to make infrastructure development a priority over the next five years, including construction of over 20 toll roads in collaboration with private investors. Land acquisition, however, remains a major obstacle, with many projects often slowed or even canceled due to uncertainty on the issues.

Consumer spending is continuing to drive Indonesia’s economy, with telecommunications firms leading the gains in major companies’ results through September this year. The commodities and energy sectors, however, still suffered from the impact of the global financial crisis and high lending rates. “Although the economy is slowing down, growth is still there,” Fauzi Ichsan, an economist at Standard Chartered bank in Jakarta, said on Friday.

The furniture and crafts industry is being battered by the global economic downturn due to slumping export demand, the closure of more than 100 companies and dismissals of up to 1 million workers. The Association of Indonesian Furniture and Handicraft Exporters (Asmindo) revealed Friday many furniture and crafts enterprises in the country relied heavily on the export market and were therefore highly affected by a slumping overseas demand.

Quoting: biznews Indonesia's Ministers Pledge New Focus On Removing Bottlenecks They are the fucking bottlenecks. They're gonna remove themselves are they?