Indonesia is a major importer of plastics. In 2018, the country imported US$9.21 billion worth of plastic & products, an increase of 19% from 2017. Import of organic chemicals, including raw materials for domestic production of plastics, meanwhile, grew 17% to US$6.93 billion. This is seen an opportunity by some companies to expand their domestic production facilities.

Business people are still nervous waiting the new Water Law. Despite uncertainty surrounding the legal framework, some major water projects have been entering construction and financial closing stages. Else, would be difficult to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 100% access to drinking water by 2030.

Despite endless concerns surrounding the universal healthcare program BPJS Kesehatan, five hospitals listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange—-Siloam, Hermina, Mitra Keluarga, Omni, and Mayapada—-booked a combined net profit of Rp487.3 billion in the first half of 2019, jumped by 32.8% from the corresponding period of 2018, thanks to strong revenues from the patients.

Land acquisition and physical construction of the remaining sections of trans-Sumatra toll road project have progressed well in the past few months. President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo is now required to get all governors and regents in the second most populous island, home to more than 60 million people, on board for better utilization of the program.

Jakarta has mostly returned to normal after the massive, Aug. 4-5 blackout. At least one area, Sunter, is reportedly still suffering from water supply issue. A phone call to Aetra, the water supplier for the area, confirmed that they were still recovering from the aftermath of the blackout. That said, PLN told the press in the afternoon Aug. 5 that Jakarta was fully electrified. The work left is making sure that West Java and Banten would return to normal. Unfortunately for the PLN, their recovery effort has not been enough to stop the National Police (POLRI) from investigating what had gone wrong. 

Cable manufacturers listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) generated a combined sales revenues of Rp8.02 trillion in the first half of 2019, an increase of 19% from the corresponding period last year. Jembo Cable (JECC), however, is the only manufacturer reporting single digit growth in the period.

Indonesia welcomed 7.83 million of visits by foreign tourists in the first half of 2019, an increase of 4.01% from the corresponding period last year. The growth, however, was attributable to 37% jump in number of visitors entering the country through the sea ports, especially those entering Tanjung Uban, Tanjung Pinang, and Tanjung Balai Karimun in the Riau Islands. Those entering through airports, however, declined 3.74% in the period.

In April 2018, second largest telco operator Indosat (ISAT) launched GIG2GO fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service. The target was to have 100 thousands of subscribers by the end of 2018. How much was achieved, however, was not disclosed in the company’s Annual Report 2018. Months later, XL Axiata, the third largest telco operator, launched its FTTH called XL Home with a more ambitious target.

In the afternoon of Sunday (Aug. 4), Jakarta went dark. What appeared initially as a typical blackout soon turned into a significant incident. Twitter was flooded with inquiries from those wondering who else had been affected. It’s 100 million affected the BBC Indonesia estimated. They called it “the worst [blackout] since 2005.”