Indonesia Financial News

barriers to commerce, ensure stability through global accords and enforce the rules came under renewed criticism following a chaotic and contentious meeting of its top officials. The 13th ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi last week laid bare an uncomfortable truth: For an organization that needs all 166 member countries to agree, the WTO again struggled to muster even a small win. Those are only getting messier and harder to pull off in an era of two armed conflicts, widening geopolitical gulfs and a realignment of the trading ties that bind the postwar economic order. Meetings in the capital of the United Arab Emirates — positioned both geographically and geo-economically between US-European Union and China-Russia alliances — were dominated by disorder and confusion, according to several participants, who asked not to be named speaking about the private talks. They’re rarely jovial affairs, but hopes were quickly dashed that this year would be a turning point toward unity.

palm oil prices relative to other edible oils in the near term, according to veteran trader Dorab Mistry. Production in top grower Indonesia may fall by at least a million tons in 2024, while Malaysian output could remain flat, said Mistry, a director at Godrej International Ltd. The trend is likely to last at least five years, as the industry contends with aging trees, erratic weather and little improvement in farming practices, he said in an interview. “I think you have to be reasonably bullish on all oils, but particularly palm,” due to output constraints, he said on the sidelines of the Palm & Lauric Oils Price Outlook Conference in Kuala Lumpur. While production of other oilseeds is set to climb this year, “palm is unfortunately the laggard,” he said.

₹4 trillion. To put it in context, that is around 8% of the budget’s total expenditure, second only to defence in its non-interest expenditure pie. Add to it separate outlays from state governments—state-level top-ups for minimum support prices (MSPs), power subsidies, etc—and the amount is likely to go up substantially.

fintech startup Wagely has raised $23 million, in a mix of equity and debt, as a part of its latest funding round. The equity portion of the round is led by Capria Ventures, which has invested in the likes of social networking platform, ShareChat, edtech Masai School and Cuemath in India.

Indonesian crypto regulator has requested the country’s Finance Ministry to reconsider the current ‘dual taxation’ on crypto transactions.

Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) may see better-than-peers earnings growth ahead, under chief executive officer Sudhir Sitapati’s leadership. The company is taking the right steps to improve the overseas and India portfolio. It plans to bolster the financial position of the GAUM (Godrej Africa, USA, and Middle East) segment, which formed over 24% of GCPL’s consolidated revenue in the nine months ended December (9MFY24).

extremist Islamist views from countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia will be blocked from entering Britain under new plans being drafted by the government, according to a UK media report on Sunday. 'The Daily Telegraph' reports that the British government is concerned about a «shocking increase» in extremist activity and officials are being deputed to identify the most dangerous extremists from overseas so they can be added to visa warning lists. Under the new plans, those on the list will be automatically refused entry to the UK. The revelation comes days after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivered an impassioned speech from the podium at 10 Downing Street in London, warning that the country's democratic and multi-faith values were under threat by extremists.

Ramadan started on March 24 and finished on April 21. In countries like United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, UK, US, Turkey, Maldives, Ramadan is likely to start on 11 March. In India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Egypt, Ramadan is likely to start from 12 March, a report by Hindustan Times has states.

(Reuters) — The latest black eye for Boeing's (N:BA) top-selling 737 MAX aircraft occurred in January when a cabin panel blowout forced an Alaska Airlines flight to make an emergency landing.     U.S. regulators briefly grounded certain planes for safety checks, a move less severe than the grounding of all MAX-family jets worldwide nearly five years ago following a pair of fatal crashes.

MILAN is an India-hosted biennial multi-national naval exercise that originated in 1995. The exercise aims to enhance cooperation and interoperability among the navies of diverse participating countries.

Business activity in India's manufacturing sector is showing signs of improvement. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 56.9 in February from 56.5 in January. A figure above 50 indicates expansion.

The tech narrative in the last two years has been dominated by artificial intelligence (AI) and the excitement and disruption generated by it. However, the narrative started to sour a little in the latter half of 2023, as ethical issues got thrown up—like copyright, bias, privacy and deepfakes. Now, with elections looming across most of the democratic world, 2024 promises to be the year when AI will experience its first major ethical test—whether it helps democracy or subverts it.

coal imports are expected to fall for the first time this year since the COVID-19 pandemic due to increasing domestic output and record-high inventories, industry officials said on Tuesday. Out of eleven coal traders, Reuters spoke with at the Coaltrans India conference in the western state of Goa, eight expected shipments of the fuel to decrease this year, while the others foresaw flat imports or marginal growth.

Takeda Pharmaceutical is holding talks with Indian regulators to make its dengue vaccine available in the country, the drugmaker's global head of vaccines, Gary Dubin, told Reuters on Tuesday. «We are in talks with regulators and plan to start a clinical trial very soon,» said Dubin. The Japanese drugmaker plans to scale up the production of its dengue vaccine Qdenga through a partnership with Indian vaccine maker Biological E., the companies said earlier in the day.

cross-border remittances has found support from many World Trade Organization members including the European Union, officials said. Except for the US, most countries have favoured a work programme at the WTO for cheaper, faster and more accessible cross-border payments including remittances. Separately, Indonesia has backed New Delhi's proposal to reinvigorate the work under the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce, which requires structured discussion on trade-related issues over global e-commerce, taking into account the economic, financial and development needs of developing countries. Last week, New Delhi pushed for promoting interoperability and interlinkages of digital payment infrastructure including fast payment systems to lower transaction costs.

World Trade Organization (WTO) beginning Monday in Abu Dhabi, the G-33 group of countries, which includes India, has urged members to achieve an outcome on public stockholding for food security purposes. Ministers and Representatives of the G-33 members who met yesterday in United Arab Emirates on the sidelines of the four-day Ministerial Conference (MC) called on all WTO Members to engage constructively to achieve a meaningful outcome on agriculture. The G-33 group, which includes 47 developing and least developed countries (LDCs) and Net Food Importing Developing Countries (NFIDCs), issued a joint statement on February 25, after the meeting coordinated by Indonesia.

There are so many crises raging around the world that you can ask why I have chosen to bring the one in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to your attention this fortnight. So let me tell you the reason upfront: It is an example of why hyper-diverse societies can end up in deep trouble unless they develop the necessary social capital needed to govern themselves. The post-colonial state was carved out of an arbitrary chunk of the Melanesian archipelago (the region comprising the easternmost stretches of Indonesia and islands northeast of Australia).

By Stefanno Sulaiman

Indonesia and Australia have held high-level talks in Jakarta as the neighboring countries seek to strengthen security ties by signing a defense cooperation agreement in the coming months

startup ecosystems and Indonesia's startup ecosystem has been rapidly growing, fueled by a large young population and increasing internet penetration. There is immense potential for collaboration between India's public digital infrastructure and Indonesia's digital infrastructure to drive innovation, economic growth, and cultural exchange, Indonesia’s Creative Economy and Tourism Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno has told ET. By sharing best practices and expertise, India and Indonesia can empower entrepreneurs, startups, and creative professionals to harness the full potential of digital technologies for innovation, growth, and social impact, Sandiaga who is in Delhi to participate in the Raisina Dialogue (India’s premier foreign policy dialogue) told ET in an exclusive interview. “There is great potential for partnership between Indian and Indonesian startups across-sectors — technology, e-commerce, fintech, healthcare, agriculture, and renewable energy,” the visiting Minister pointed out. “I recognize the immense potential for collaboration between India's public digital infrastructure and Indonesia's digital infrastructure to drive innovation, economic growth, and cultural exchange.”

By Gerry Doyle