News

President Jokowi Inaugurates Tangguh Train 3 LNG Plant in West Papua
30 Nov 2023
President Jokowi inaugurated the Tangguh Train 3 LNG plant in Bintuni Bay, West Papua. The national strategic project with an investment of Rp72.45 trillion is the development of liquified natural gas or LNG refinery projects in the Tangguh gas field. The ESDM Ministry’s spokesperson, Agus Cahyono Adi, said apart from the inauguration of the Tangguh Train 3 project, the government also announced three other development projects in the province that are still part of the upstream oil and gas project and its derivatives. The Tangguh gas field is Indonesia’s largest natural gas producer, which aims to meet national gas demand. It has been  operational  since  2009  and  currently  has  offshore  gas  production  facilities  that  supply  three  LNG  plants, each with a capacity of 3.8 million tons per annum (MTPA).   Source : https://en.tempo.co/read/1800843/jokowi-inaugurates-tangguh-train-3-lng-plant-in-west-papua-worth-rp72-45tn
218 km of new toll roads in Indonesia are fully operational
30 Nov 2023
Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono said that the length of toll roads has increased by 410 km. From that length, 218 km is fully operational.  The remaining 192 km will be operational in Christmas 2023-2024.
Can Vietnam remain as Asia’s rising star?
15 Nov 2023
The Vietnamese economy and automotive market have been growing fast, in the shadow of its giant neighbour, China. Since the country signed a trade agreement with the US and joined the WTO in the 2000s foreign investment and exports have surged dramatically – and helped boost the nation’s income. In more recent years, the economy has benefitted from global corporations (and even Chinese companies) relocating their production facilities from China to Vietnam amid rising labour costs in China and heightened tensions between China and the West. Vietnam has been climbing up the value chains, too, with an increasingly skilled workforce and a growing IT industry. The country’s GDP per capita almost tripled from $1,290 in 2002 to $3,600 in 2022 (in 2015 US dollar terms), the fastest growth among the ASEAN 5 countries. Along with rising incomes, the country’s Light Vehicle sales quadrupled over the past decade to a record high of 472k units last year. Between 2012 and 2022, the compound annual growth rate of Light Vehicle sales reached 18% in Vietnam, far exceeding that of China (3.4%), India (3%), and its peers in ASEAN. Indeed, Vietnam has been a rising star in Asia. This year, however, the Vietnamese automotive market has tumbled very badly. Light Vehicle sales declined by 25% YoY in the first nine months of 2023. The main factor behind poor sales results was the collapse in consumer and business confidence, as the country’s once bubbling property market has gone bust after the government took measures to rein in leverage and launched anti-graft campaigns.   Source : https://www.just-auto.com/analyst-comment/can-vietnam-remain-as-asias-rising-star/
China's share of global manufacturing jobs to rise by 2050
15 Nov 2023
China's share of global manufacturing jobs will increase by 2050, even as the United States and European Union aim to be less reliant on its products. The Asian giant's share of global manufacturing jobs will rise to 43 percent of the total by that year -- making China one of the only countries to see growth in such jobs during that time, according to a study by the Washington-based Center for Global Development.   Source : https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2023/10/30/chinas-share-of-global-manufacturing-jobs-to-rise-by-2050-study/
Indonesia Manufacturing Growth at 8-Month Low
15 Nov 2023
The S&P Global Indonesia Manufacturing PMI declined to 51.5 in October 2023 from 52.3 in September. It was the 26th straight month of expansion in factory activity but the softest pace since February, amid weaker new order growth and a reduction in export sales, while output grew the least in four months. Employment  declined  for  the  first  time  since  June  2022.  On  prices,  input  cost  inflation  accelerated  to  a seven-month  high  due  to  higher  raw  material,  transportation,  and  financing  costs.  As  a  result,  firms  opted  to partly share their higher costs with their clients by raising their selling prices again. Finally, business sentiment deteriorated to an eight-month low amid rising uncertainty around the global economic outlook.   Source : Trading Economics
Indonesia opens Southeast Asia's largest floating solar farm
15 Nov 2023
President Jokowi inaugurated a USD 100 million floating solar farm, the largest in Southeast Asia, as the country seeks  more  opportunities  to  transition  to  green,  renewable  energy.    The  Cirata  floating  solar  farm,  which  is expected  to  generate  enough  electricity  to  power  50,000  households,  is  built  on  a  200-hectare  (500-acre) reservoir in West Java, about 130 kilometres (80 miles) from the capital, Jakarta.  The project, a collaboration between national electricity company PT PLN and the Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy company Masdar, took three years to complete.  The solar farm, funded by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered, consists of 340,000 panels. 
Why is the US economy so resilient?
31 Oct 2023
Gross domestic product, a measure of all goods and services produced in the U.S., rose at a 4.9% annualized pace in the July-through-September period. The report added that the sharp increase in economic growth came as a result of strong consumer spending, businesses building up inventories, exports, residential investment, and government spending. The 4.9% figure, which will be revised in future months, reflects the strongest economic growth since the fourth quarter of 2021.  “I always say it is a mistake to bet against the American people, and just today we learned the economy grew 4.9% in the third quarter,” President Joe Biden said in a written statement.    Source : https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/resilient-us-economy-grew-stellar-summer-rcna122352/
US economy delivers blockbuster performance in third quarter
31 Oct 2023
The U.S. economy grew almost 5% in the third quarter, again defying dire warnings of a recession. The fastest growth pace in nearly two years reported by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis in its advance estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product was also spurred by a rebound in residential investment after contracting for nine straight quarters. GDP increased at a 4.9% annualized rate last quarter, the fastest since the fourth quarter of 2021. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast GDP rising at a 4.3% rate. Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, accelerated at a 4.0% rate after only rising at a 0.8% pace in the second quarter.   Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-economic-growth-accelerates-third-quarter-2023-10-26/