Indonesia recorded trade surplus of US$743 million last month, lifting first quarter 2020’s surplus to US$2.62 billion. The country’s export grew by 2.91% in the first quarter, while import declined by 3.69%. Not bad, given global lockdowns related to Covid-19 pandemic.

On Sunday, April 12, the Government’s Spokesperson for COVID-19 Achmad Yurianto addressed the public in his daily briefing. Yuri (so the Director General for Disease Prevention is typically called) reassured the public that COVID-19 is curable. But while Yuri is right that COVID-19 is curable, it is also the fact that COVID-19 patients are not recovering fast enough. 

The question that I’ve been asked a lot in these past few weeks is: when is this going to be over? My reply to that is: which one, the pandemic, or the impact of? 

The coronavirus pandemic is hitting the energy and mineral sector. The construction of Nickel, Bauxite, Copper, and Manganese smelters have stopped. President Director of PT Weda Bay Nickel (Eramet) Yudhi Santoso in a conversation with us over the phone on March 19, 2020, said that the Weda Bay Nickel smelter project has been postponed with no clear deadline on when the US$2 billion project would resume.

The world is struggling to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease COVID-19. The impact of the pandemic is felt even in Indonesia’s Oil and Gas upstream sector. Major investments are now in limbo, one of which is the investment for the development of the Masela Block, whose Plan of Development (PoD) has been approved by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM).

On Monday March 16, 2020, several esteemed healthcare professionals and representatives of the COVID-19 Task Force assembled at the Cabinet Secretariat Office. The attendees discussed the strategy to confront COVID-19. The result of their meeting is a recommendation...

Yesterday (March 11), the Indonesian Government announced additional confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases to 27. The increase itself is not what is worrying. It’s the fact that Case (patient) Number 27 is infected by SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that...

Qantas airlines’ stock dropped as much as 7.1% in Sydney this morning following more travel restrictions worldwide related to skyrocketting new cases of Coronavirus outside China. HK-based Cathay Pacific Airways also lost 3.2% this morning, while flag carrier Garuda Indonesia declined 2.11% after Indonesian government imposing travel bans to people from South Korea, Italy, and Iran.

Investments in Indonesia might be affected by the Coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak in the short term, but mid-and-long term prospect of investments in manufacturing remains strong. Some companies have embarked new and expansion projects, which will see a stronger manufacturing industry in five years time.

News spread over the weekend that a Japanese man, who had returned from a trip to Indonesia, had tested positive for Covid-19. The Minister of Health, as expected, brushed it off. Minister Terawan told the press that he’d wait for details on the man’s excursion and health condition. “If it’s from the news, there’s been news like that coming from Malaysia, and Korea. But we have to be careful and rely on data,” Minister Terawan insisted.