American Indonesian Chamber of Commerce

AMERICAN INDONESIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Recent Trends As Indonesia moves closer towards a pivotal national election, I thought it might be useful to set out a few trends to keep in mind going forward. Economic China: As Indonesia’s most important economic partner, China will remain key to Indonesia’s future. China is Indonesia largest two-way trading partner and Indonesia’s is

Democracy and Development

Democracy and Development Indonesians are worried about democracy and development, or at the least those that work at Indonesia’s leading English language publication, The Jakarta Post, and spoke at its 40th anniversary event: “The Sustainability of Democracy in Southeast Asia”.  The event and subsequent editorials show significant concern over the direction of democracy and

Are We More Palistinian Than The Palistinians?

Are We More Palistinian Than The Palistinians? Commentary by Wayne Forrest Indonesia doesn’t usually receive worldwide press attention for its accomplishments and reforms. Rather, it takes something bad like a disaster or cultural anomaly for Indonesia to get a lot of ink. So the world doesn’t hear stories such as Ford and Vale have

March Crazy Weather

March Crazy Weather Commentary by Wayne Forrest Where I live, 20 miles north of New York City, March is a complete mix of weather patterns. Snow one day, warm temperatures the next. “In like a lion and out like a lamb”, goes the saying. To read about developments in Indonesia is to experience this

Outlook for 2023

Issue To Watch: Outlook for 2023 Commentary by Wayne Forrest​​​​​​​ As we predicted last January, Indonesia’s 2022 economic performance outstripped 2021, itself a return to growth following the first year of the pandemic. It was more than just government spending and higher mineral prices that helped boost GDP to over 5.0% by Q3: manufacturing

Swing State

Swing State November 2020 Commentary by Wayne Forrest The US election has been focused on swing states, key places where our two political parties contest for electoral votes every four years. Even more than it may have in the past, the US government now sees Indonesia as a swing state, important in our own

Where’s the Transformation ?

Commentary by Wayne Forrest It keeps happening over successive Indonesian presidencies: a transformational figure is elected (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Joko Widodo) who appoints transformational ministers, who propose reforms. But, then things bog down. Frustration sets in, or the person leaves the Cabinet. Growth atrophies and the language of discourse remains in the pluperfect tense.

Which Way

Which Way is the Wind Blowing by Wayne Forrest Recently Moody’s and Fitch curiously upgraded their Indonesia sovereign rating while the government fixed energy and electricity prices for two years, placing the large obligations of state-owned Pertamina and PLN at risk. Meanwhile the rupiah and stock market indexes are trending south but Bank Indonesia

Politics and Rice

Indonesia possesses many excellent economists who know supply and demand. They graduate from the economics departments of not only the nation’s best universities that rank with counterparts in other countries but from foreign universities as well.  Many occupy senior positions in the government. But yet, when it comes to commodities such as rice or

2017 Highlights

Accountability Commentary by Wayne Forrest According to recent news reports underpasses in downtown Jakarta were recently flooded causing worse-than-normal gridlock.  Pumps were not checked and maintained regularly, apparently. All of Indonesia’s tsunami buoys are inoperable due to vandalism and lack of maintenance, an official from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency recently said.  The new

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