Draft of Omnibus Law on Job Creation is also designed to amend or abolish some articles in the Law No. 36/1999 about telecommunication and Law No. 32/2002 about broadcasting. The Omnibus Law addresses some crucial issues, including capping of telecommunication tariffs, technical standards, transfer of rights, which could pave the way for faster consolidation.

Indonesia reported US$870 million of trade deficit in January 2020, mainly due to US$1.18 billion of deficit in oil and gas. President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo should immediately take bold decisions to boost domestic production of oil and gas amidst growing consumption. While mandatory biodiesel program might cut import of refined products, falling output of crude oil and surplus in natural gas can’t be fully compensated by biodiesel.

Minister Terawan is incensed. Harvard academics believe that Covid-19 could have already spread in Indonesia given statistical probability. It’s a scientific argument that takes into account flights from Wuhan into (regions in) Indonesia. Still, the Indonesian Health Minister is not having it. He finds the argument insulting for Indonesia could simply have been saved by the grace of God.

Three groups are reportedly competing to acquire PT Artajasa Pembayaran Elektronis, which is famous with its ATM Bersama switching network. Valuation of the company, which has also generated revenues from electronic payments, is said substantially higher than the aborted initial public offering (IPO) two years ago.

Indonesia is a fast-growing market for data center with estimated annual growth of more than 21%. The government’s policy requiring the store of customer data in domestic data center and the strong demand from operators providing content services have led to some major investments in the business.

We’ve been talking about gasification of coal for nearly two decades now. Tens of companies have also announced plans to process coal into synthetic gas, which will then be processed further into dimethyl ether (DME, as substitute for liquefied petroleum gas/LPG) and chemicals (including olefins and polyolefins).

The government expects Omnibus Law to boost the country’s investment climate. Given uncertainties in the process and global economic slowdown, the country expects positive review from global investors from its improved infrastructure because more new toll roads will enter commercial operation this year.

Compared to the SARS outbreak in 2002-2003, economic implications of Coronavirus outbreak this time around to Indonesia will be substantially bigger. We identified at least three major implications, which could cost Indonesian economy dearly, especially in the first quarter of the year.

Just days after Prabowo Subianto, minister of defense, expressed his interest in buying Scorpene submarines from French, president Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo took Prabowo and other cabinet members to PT PAL Indonesia to witness completion of construction for submarine named Alugoro-45, a joint project with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME), on Monday (Jan 27).