Travel- 3 Day Quarantine

Indonesia has lowered its required quarantine for foreign visitors to 3 days. Bali and Batam are now open for foreign tourists but direct international flights have not resumed to Bali.

It is now possible again to travel to Indonesia on sponsored business visas. A five day quarantine is required at designated Jakarta hotels. A local Indonesian organization applies online at the Directorate for Immigration. If travelers do not have a local counterpart an AICC member, PT Cekindo (a business facilitation firm, part of Singapore’s InCorp group) can become the sponsor for a $300 fee. 14 days is the approximate processing time.

Contact: Pandu Biasramadhan, pandu.ramadhan@cekindo.com.

View travel restrictions here.

Economic

·     Record October Trade Surplus: Indonesia booked further record-high export and trade surpluses in October, bolstered once more by high coal and crude palm oil (CPO) prices, benefiting from a recovery in global trade. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) reported on Monday that exports grew by 53.35 percent year-on-year (yoy) to US$22.03 billion in October. Similarly, imports rose by 51.06 percent to $16.29 billion from a year earlier.

·     Another Pertamina Refinery Fire: For the second time this year fire has broken out at Indonesia’s largest refinery at Cilacap. Although the refinery was not shutdown the incident could potentially effect Indonesia’s plans to upgrade and expand its refinery footprint, softening investor confidence.

·     Formal Sector Employment Unchanged:  The job creation benefits of the Omnibus Bill passed earlier this year remain elusive so far. Informal employment remains large in Indonesia despite some small improvements, with job growth in the formal sector limited even as companies look to rehire after slashing staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. The share of informal workers was recorded at 59.45 percent in August, according to figures published by Statistics Indonesia (BPS) on Nov. 5, down 1.02 percentage points from a year earlier, as the number of employers assisted by temporary workers and the number of unpaid family workers fell, while the number of formal workers increased.

Foreign Affairs

Messaging Confusion on Glasgow Accord: Following the UN Climate Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, subsequent statements by the Minister for the Environment as well as from the Minister and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs appear at odds with the 137-nation agreement (signed by Indonesia) pledging to end deforestation by 2030. Environment And Forestry Minister, Siti Nurbaya Bakar caused a stir by saying the pledge that Indonesia agreed to was “clearly inappropriate and unfair”. Vice foreign minister Mahendra Siregar later said the pledge did not mean deforestation would be halted completely but referred instead to “sustainable forest management”. After speaking with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told a news conference: “Indonesia’s concrete achievements on forestry sector is beyond doubt…I underlined that Indonesia does not want to be trapped in rhetoric. We prefer to walk the talk.”

(sources: International and Indonesia news media, Bali Update (from balidiscovery.com), Reformasi Weekly, US Embassy website)