We have to wait for sometime to get confirmation from Hyundai about their US$700 million investment here. We might wait longer to see implementation of LG Chemical’s planned US$2.3 billion of investment in EV battery or SK Chemical’s petrochemical project. But, other than the names we reported earlier, there are some global manufacturers with ongoing expansion projects in the country, whose output will be impactful to the economy in two years time.

We have talked about the petrochemical complex project for more than one decade now. Ground breaking of the US$3.5 billion project was done in December 2018 by then industry minister Airlangga Hartarto, who is chairman of Golkar Party. Few months ago, however, leaders of PT Lotte Chemical Indonesia, threatened to cancel the project due to conflicts surrounding permits and licensing.

Implementation of major investment commitments from global investors is now in the hands of Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, coordinating minister for maritime affairs, whose portfolio has been added with ‘investment affairs’. In recent weeks he talked more about new investments coming, but the retired general shall prioritize in implementation of pending investments.

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo looks determined to revitalize the country’s manufacturing industry. Despite massive investments in public infrastructure (toll roads, ports), the country is still considered not competitive enough to attract new investments, especially because of complicated regulatory framework and the industrial relation issues. Next year, however, Indonesia’s manufacturing industry will get a lift in some sectors.

Some economists jumped into conclusion about domestic manufacturing industry problems behind deeper correction of import (down 9.9%) than export (-7.8%) in the first ten months of 2019. The truth is that nearly 30% fall in import of oil and gas, due to some policies introduced this year, contributed to deeper correction of import.

Indonesia posted trade surplus of US$161.3 million last month against deficit of US$163.9 million in September, thanks to stronger export growth (+5.9%), while import grew at slower pace (+3.6%). As a result, the country’s trade deficit fell sharply by 67.9% to US$1.79 billion in the first ten months of 2019.

Some foreign investors are reportedly preparing to participate in tender for the development of Bawen-Yogyakarta toll road, which needs Rp12 trillion of investment. The toll road, which will be connected to the trans-Java and Solo-Yogyakarta, will significantly boost economic, including tourism, activities in Central Java and Yogyakarta, home to around 40 million population.

Textile and garment producer Pan Brothers (PBRX) booked net profit of US$15.54 million in Jan-Sep 2019, jumped by 39% from the corresponding period last year, thanks to improved margins. Sales revenues actually increased by 10% only to US$491.9 million, but the company managed to cut its operating expenses.

We have long talked about ‘fishy relationship’ between doctors and pharmaceutical companies, which might have contributed to high medical costs in the country. This week, Tempo magazine published its so-called ‘investigation’ into such practice by Kalbe Farma (KLBF), the largest pharmaceutical company listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) with market capitalization of slightly above US$5 billion.