Mustaqim Adamrah, THE JAKARTA POST, JAKARTA The government will impose quotas on beef imports to try to safeguard local cattle farmers from a wave of imports from New Zealand, Australia and Brazil, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono says. He said on Wednesday the import quotas would be made according to demand in the domestic market. “There will be quotas to control imports.

Alfian, THE JAKARTA POST, JAKARTA The wave of layoffs amidst the economic downturn has affected 237,500 workers nationwide between October and March, far exceeds government reports.

In yet another warning that Indonesia is far from being immune to the global economic turmoil, the government has once again cut its target for domestic manufacturing growth, on the back of lower expectations of overall economic growth, a senior official at the Industry Ministry said on Wednesday. Agus Tjahajana, the ministry’s secretary general, said manufacturing was expected to grow within the range of 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent.