Minggu, 19 Februari 2023

 

PROMOTING BIOMASS AS A SOURCE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN INDONESIA


Pict Source : 
https://www.diskominfo.purwakartakab.go.id

Indonesia has committed to cutting carbon to net-zero by 2060, a huge statement by the government to take extreme action into tackling climate change. The government has detailed its roadmap for net-zero, in which by 2050 the number of fossil fuels used for energy would be no more than 25 percent and most of the energy should be based on renewable energy. As part of reaching net-zero by 2060, Indonesia plans by 2025 to produce energy from renewables as much as 23 percent. This renewable energy is contributed by hydro energy (8 percent), geothermal (7.5 percent), biomass (6 percent) and other renewable energy (1.5 percent). The information regarding what energy source is considered renewable

should be followed by the same categories that the United Nations has determined. Renewable energy sources consist of solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, ocean energy, bioenergy and geothermal energy.

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2023/02/14/promoting-biomass-as-a-source-of-renewable-energy-in-indonesia.html

Rabu, 20 April 2022

Indonesia to impose VAT, income tax on crypto from May

 Indonesia plans to charge value-added tax (VAT) on crypto asset transactions and an income tax on capital gains from such investments at 0.1 percent each, starting from May 1, a tax official said on April 1, amid a boom in digital asset trading. Interest in digital assets has surged in Southeast Asia's largest economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the number of crypto asset holders jumping to 11 million by the end of 2021.

Last year's total crypto asset transactions in commodity futures markets reached Rp 859.4 trillion (US$59.8 billion), up more than 10 times from 2020's transaction value, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency showed.


Indonesians are allowed to trade crypto assets as a commodity but not to use them as a means of payment. "Crypto assets will be subject to VAT because they are a commodity as defined by the trade ministry. They are not a currency," the official, Hestu Yoga Saksama, told a media briefing. "So we will impose income tax and VAT."

The government is still working on the implementing regulation for the taxes, he added. The VAT rate on crypto assets is well below the 11 percent levied on most Indonesian goods and services, while the income tax on capital gains, at 0.1 percent of gross transaction value, matches that on shares. Officials said a wide-ranging tax law passed last year was the legal basis for taxes on crypto assets. That law aimed to optimise revenue collection hit by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.


Source :

https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2022/04/04/govt-to-impose-vat-income-tax-on-crypto-from-may.html


Jumat, 04 Januari 2013

STARBUCKS TO OPEN 1st VIETNAM CAFE


Starbucks Corp. will open its first Vietnam cafe early next month in Ho Chi Minh City as part of its strategy to expand across Asia, the company said Thursday.

The Seattle-based chain will be entering a country of coffee lovers that already has an established market. At least two popular homegrown chains have dozens of locations nationwide, and family-run sidewalk cafes dot the streets and alleys of larger Vietnamese cities.

Starbucks said it operates more than 3,300 stores across 11 countries in China and the Asia-Pacific region, but its Vietnam cafes will celebrate the country's "coffee culture and heritage."

"We are looking forward to serving our customers in Vietnam in an authentic and locally relevant way," Jinlong Wang, president for Starbucks Asia Pacific, said in a statement.

Vietnam is the world's second-largest coffee producer behind Brazil and already provides high-quality beans for Starbucks stores in other countries.

The company said it has designated a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Maxim's Group as its licensee in Vietnam.

French colonizers introduced coffee to Vietnam in the nineteenth century, but coffee here typically is stronger than European espresso and can be served with tea.

Starbucks, named after a character in Herman Melville's nineteenth-century novel Moby Dick, opened in 1971 and has nearly 18,000 retail stores in 60 countries.

Source : http://www2.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/01/03/starbucks-open-1st-vietnam-cafe.html

Jumat, 02 November 2012

Foreign investors may ‘relocate’

At least 10 companies are considering closing their businesses in Indonesia and relocating to other countries unless the government settles several labor issues that they claim hamper the investmentclimate, according to an influential business association.

Chairman of the Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo) Sofjan Wanandi said the foreign investors’ plan was apparently driven by legal uncertainties from labor issues.

He said Apindo had asked those businessmen to delay their moves pending the outcome of Apindo’s lobbying of relevant authorities to solve the problems within two months.

“Many other foreign investors will certainly follow suit if the 10 companies relocate to other countries. This will certainly have serious negative impacts on the foreign investment climate in the country and on unemployment,” Sofjan said at a seminar on job security in the outsourcing system on Tuesday.

Minggu, 12 Desember 2010

BI ready with 17 new rulings to better manage banking system

Bank Indonesia (BI) will announce at least 17 new banking regulations in January to better manage the banking system and bring inflation in check in line with economic targets.

BI deputy governor Muliaman Hadad said Friday that the regulations included bankers’ fit and proper tests, disclosure of the prime lending rate, banks’ business plans and exit policies.

“Hopefully we can finalize the package of 17 regulations before year-end so it can be introduced at the beginning of January,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with Southeast Asian central bankers in Jimbaran, Bali.

Muliaman explained that the drafting of the regulations had been completed but they were currently being reviewed by the central bank’s legal department.

“They are being made congruent to avoid clashes between one ruling and another,” he added.

Bank Indonesia recently announced several policies that analysts considered a mixed-bag, including the loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) and primary minimum reserve requirement (GWM) regulations.

The primary reserve requirement policy, aimed at absorbing excess liquidity that could further fuel inflation, requires banks to store 8 percent of their total deposits with the central bank starting Nov. 1, up from the previous 5 percent.

The policy prompted several banks to increase their lending rates to plug their so-called “cost of fund”, a move that hampered lending growth.

Meanwhile, the LDR policy aims at boosting banks’ lending, requiring them to disburse more loans and have LDRs between 78 and 100 percent.

According to analysts, the policies clash as one hurts lending while the other aims at providing more loans. However, the central bankers have repeatedly insisted that the policies will work if properly implemented.

The requirement imposed on banks to publish their prime lending rate will encourage a healthier competition among them because the public will know which bank offers low rates to borrow money for working capital, investment or consumption, deputy governor Halim Alamsyah recently said.

“So if banks raise their rates, the public will know,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wimboh Santoso, BI’s regulatory and research director, said Thursday that with the latest lending figures, banks must disburse between Rp 60 trillion and Rp 70 trillion in loans in December alone in order to meet the central bank’s 22 to 24 percent loan growth target for this year.

“Banks must disburse Rp 17 trillion in loans per week to make that happen,” he said at the Jimbaran meeting.

This year, lending has grown by 18.44 percent up to Dec. 3, while on a yearly basis, loan growth has reached 22.14 percent.

Analysts are pessimistic about the matter, saying the central bank’s target is unlikely to be met.

Source
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/12/11/bi-ready-with-17-new-rulings-better-manage-banking-system.html

Sabtu, 27 November 2010

Garuda plans IDX debut on Feb. 11

State-run airline company Garuda Indonesia plans to float its shares on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) tentatively on Feb. 11, a bourse official said Friday.

IDX director of corporate listing Eddy Sugito said the state’s flag carrier would offer 30 percent shares in its initial public offering (IPO), expected to take place at the beginning of February.

Garuda will conduct a roadshow to capture investors' demand from Jan. 17-28, he added.

"The offered shares will include the 10 percent stake Bank Mandiri holds in Garuda", Eddy said after meeting with Garuda executives at the Indonesia Stock Exchange in Jakarta.

The nation's largest bank has previously said it aimed to collect Rp 1 trillion (US$100 million) from the sales of its 10 percent stake obtained through a debt-to-equity swap earlier this year.

Garuda's chief executive officer Elisa Lumbantoruan said on the same day that the airline firm aimed to raise US$300 to $400 million through the initial shares offer.


Source :
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/11/26/garuda-plans-idx-debut-feb-11.html

Rabu, 17 November 2010

Analysis: Growth in banking relationships bolsters consumer economy

By all accounts, the latest G20 communique isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Despite the polite smiles, the Americans and the Chinese seem determined to see heir currencies devalued while everybody else is
left scratching their heads. At APEC, the hosts decided to save the money that’s usually spent on the funny shirts that mark the group photo of the attending leaders. Bruised in Seoul,
they had little to cheer over the weekend in Yokohama.
For Indonesia, the lack of common purpose isn’t as much of a concern as it is for most other countries. Similar to India in many ways, this mixed economy is now better equipped to ride any regional economic storms than it was a decade ago. Both countries have weathered the recent global financial crisis better than most other countries, staying out of it almost untouched. Perhaps the biggest single reason for that state of well-being is their large consumer economies. The buying and selling of goods and services of the people and by the people has kept both engines well oiled, ticking over rather nicely even in the worst of times. For a developing country, the high degree of self-reliance is now the strongest bulwark against the swinging tides of our globalized world.
In Indonesia, consumer confidence is being expressed over and over again, in both word and action. While the national index remains at the highest levels ever, the signs of strong consumer sentiment  can be seen across a myriad industries. With the July-September update of Roy Morgan Single Source now in hand, industry updates in the following weeks will illustrate how each acts as a piston of the collective engine. To begin with, the financial services sector, Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank has kept a reasonably steady hand on the wheel these last five years. Neither inflation nor the rupiah have run out of control, as in decades past. The pain we see when consumer prices go rocketing up at global and local levels, or when the effects of a fuel price hike cascade downwards, is not to be taken lightly. But each dip in recent years has seen a quick comeback in consumer confidence and consumer spending, every time.
While the economy grew, even as individual incomes climbed, the overwhelming majority of Indonesians continued to struggle with their usual burden day after day. Higher service fees and higher minimum balances saw millions leave their bank accounts dormant, virtually dead in their minds. Finally, the years of steady decline in the number of people with any banking relationship has not only been arrested, the signs of a turnaround are becoming visible. This may be seen as old news for those who misread the rapid growth in the number of bank accounts as an indicator of national health. They are the same people who mistakenly conclude that “accounts” reflect “individuals”, ignoring the growing number of multiple-account holders. They cannot see how absurd it is to believe that there were 80 million Indonesians who flew an airline last year, while the reality is a relatively affluent minority flying several “sectors” many times each year. When a journalist jumps to the wrong conclusion that there are 180 million Indonesians who are subscribers of cellular networks today, they start painting an unreal picture of the state of progress.
But the banking sector is always a good indicator of the country’s middle class, not just its wealthy few. At the quarter ending June the decline in the number of Indonesians with a bank account had plateaued. As at the end of September, the turnaround was easily visible. The number of people with ‘any banking relationship’ now stands at 20 percent of all Indonesians 18 years of age and older. Not only has ground lost over recent years been recovered, the numbers have hit an all-time high. Today, there are more than 25 million Indonesians with at least one banking relationship. As recently as March this year, only 17 percent of adult Indonesians had one. Not only have the number of accounts gone up, the number of actual account-holders are rapidly rising. Syariah banking is growing too, with Bank Mandiri in particular registering a commanding lead despite increased competition from old and new entrants alike.
Equally reassuring are other signs from the same industry. For example, the amounts in savings are growing too, across socio-economic strata, from the modest to the rich. Customer satisfaction is high, and getting better. Then there’s the concurrent growth in other financial products and services. While the number of people involved are still relatively small in comparison, the signs are good. For several years, the primary growth for the credit card business came from multiple relationships with the same affluent few. Banks chased the same people, stories of membership data available for sale, the sight of wallets strained with lots of plastic all became familiar everyday occurences. Now, the number of Indonesians with plastic cards, both credit and debit, is climbing again. 9 percent of adults have one already, but credit card penetration is still hovering at less than 2 percent.
The insurance sector is seeing rapid growth, but remains a nascent industry even today. While the number of accounts are growing, the number of new entrants remain small. Overall, penetration levels are still small, lingering at 1 percent. This is equally true with people who have ‘any investment’, also at 1 percent of adults. But loans are becoming increasingly popular, with 5 percent of the population now using one to advantage. The best news for the financial services industry is the reversal of the decline in active savings accounts. That augurs well for all Indonesians, not only those joining the banking fraternity for the first time.
These conclusions are based on Roy Morgan Single Source. In Indonesia, it is the country’s largest syndicated survey with over 25,000 respondents annually, projected to reflect almost 90 percent of the population over the age of 14. The insights are updated every 90 days.

Debnath Guharoy, Roy Morgan Research | Tue, 11/16/2010 9:43 AM | Business
The writer can be contacted at debnath.guharoy@roymorgan.com