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Tag: Indonesia

  • Indonesia Plans Economic Policy Moves to Cope With Global Uncertainties

    Indonesia Plans Economic Policy Moves to Cope With Global Uncertainties

    Indonesia will announce economic policy changes in coming months to help its industries cope with rising global uncertainty and the indirect impact of trade tensions between China and the United States, officials said.

    Details about the moves, to be taken at a time Indonesia is trying to stabilize the fragile rupiah and reduce its current account deficit, have not been released.

    Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said the government is preparing measures to improve the investment climate.

    According to an official statement late on Monday (09/07), Airlangga said the government will “optimize the use of fiscal tools in the form of import and export taxes, as well as harmonizing import taxes, so that industries would have their competitive edge and are able to export.”

    He said the government would also give more incentives to exports, including by subsidizing timber legality verification for small and medium furniture makers, providing them certificates for foreign buyers that ensure timber products are not sourced from illegal logging.

    Companies would also be expected to reduce the use of imported materials in their production, the industry minister said.

    Bank Indonesia governor Perry Warjiyo said authorities are preparing policies aimed at reducing the current account deficit.

    Earlier on Monday, Perry warned that rising US-China tensions could hurt other economies not only through trade, but also financial channels as these could heighten investors’ risk aversion.

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  • Grab Aims to Dominate Indonesian Market With Open Platform Strategy

    Grab Aims to Dominate Indonesian Market With Open Platform Strategy

    Ride-hailing company Grab has launched GrabPlatform and GrabFresh to tap further into the Indonesian market, its representatives said on Tuesday (10/07).

    Grab is going to upgrade its app to focus on people’s daily needs and make it become an everyday superapp.

    For this purpose it just launched GrabPlatform, a new interface which provides transportation, news, e-commerce and food delivery services. The food feature, GrabFresh, is operated by HappyFresh, Southeast Asia’s leading online grocery shopping company.

    Now the company is testing the news feed feature, which is intended to engage users more while they are using the company’s ride-hailing services.

    “Partnering strategy, or we call it open platform strategy, has been favored by us to offer more to customers. It has been proved very effective in boosting our business” said Grab co-founder and chief executive Anthony Tan said on Tuesday.

    In 2017, Grab acquired Kudo, Indonesia’s leading online-to-offline payment service, which according to Tan has been very helpful for the company’s expansion.

    “After partnering with Kudo, we’ve grown tremendously across cities in Indonesia. And then with OVO, who is the country’s leading e-wallet. We recognize that we can’t be the best in everything, so we find the best partners. Kudo was the best agent network, OVO is the best e-wallet and TPI [ride-hailing service Teknologi Pengangkutan Indonesia] is one of the best rental partners,” he said.

    “If it wasn’t for Kudo, we could not have grown in Indonesia that fast. We went operational from 20 cities to over 100 cities in Indonesia, because of Kudo.”

    The region’s leading ride-hailing app is facing rivalry from local competitor Go-Jek, which in May announced expansion to Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

    According to App Annie, Go-Jek was leading in Indonesia, recording 15 million active users every week last year, much better than Grab with 2.5 million users.

    In March, Grab merged with ride-hailing giant Uber for the latter’s Southeast Asian operations.

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  • US-China Trade War Will Affect Indonesia Regional Economies

    US-China Trade War Will Affect Indonesia Regional Economies

    Regional economies in Indonesia will be affected if the United States suspends its special tariffs for some of the country’s exports, a minister said on Tuesday (10/07).

    The US is currently reviewing Indonesian products on its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) list — a trade incentive that gives duty-free entry to 129 poor and developing countries and territories.

    Last year, Indonesia ran a $9.7 billion trade surplus out of its total $17 billion exports to the US.

    It is the fourth biggest GSP beneficiary, after India, Thailand and Brazil.

    “If the exports of [the listed] products or commodities are disrupted, we are worried that our regional economies, where the goods come from, will also be affected,” National Development Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said on Tuesday.

    Indonesia’s exports, not only to the US, come mostly from the manufacturing sector, especially in Java.

    Last year, they made up 76 percent of the country’s total exports and were worth $125 billion, nearly $15 billion more than in the previous year.

    West Java and East Java together were the main contributors ($44 billion) to the country’s total experts, followed by East Kalimantan, Riau, Riau Islands and North Sumatra.

    “We can divert our exports to other countries and this should not be a problem. But we need to prepare ourselves,” Bambang said.

    Indonesia has been trying to enter markets in Africa and South America to lessen dependence on its traditional importers such as China, the US and Japan.

    However, exports to Africa (mainly South Africa and Egypt) amounted to only $264.7 million last year, Ministry of Trade data show.

    A team consisting of Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture officials is set to visit the US at the end of July, with a lobby mission to keep the special tariffs for Indonesia unchanged.

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  • Indonesia Tests Rice Farming ‘Digitalization’ Program to Boost Output

    Indonesia Tests Rice Farming ‘Digitalization’ Program to Boost Output

    The Indonesian government has launched a farming “digitization” project in West Java province, which may increase rice output by at least 20 percent, officials said on Monday (09/07).

    The project is currently being tested with thousands of farmers in nine rice-producing regencies as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration seeks to boost domestic food production. A regency is a governmental administration region below a province.

    “The goal is to transform farming, which is still quite traditional, to be more modern and to teach farmers to be agro-entrepreneurs,” Wahyu Kuncoro, a deputy minister at the Ministry of State Enterprises said.

    Indonesia’s rice output growth has been slowing in recent years and yields have declined to 5.15 tons of unmilled rice per hectare in 2017, from 5.34 tons per hectare in 2015.

    This year, the government issued import permits for 1 million tons of rice to help control rice prices, the country’s main food staple.

    State-controlled telecommunications firm Telekomunikasi Indonesia, or Telkom, has developed a digital platform which collects farmer and farm land data which will be used to speed up the process of distribution of subsidized loans for farmers and for applications for farm insurance. Digitalization refers to using digital technologies to change the way a business functions.

    The platform will be further developed to include a marketplace application where farmers can order fertilizer and pesticides online, as well as sell their products, said David Bangun, a director at Telkom.

    The Ministry of State Enterprises has also set up offices in the nine regencies to train farmers in modern farming methods, as well as to facilitate the direct distribution of farming supplies and sales to state food procurement agency, Bulog.

    When enough data has been collected, the digital platform can also help to predict future output, David added.

    “If this model is proven beneficial for the farmers, we will apply this to other rice production centers across the country,” Kuncoro said, adding that the project may also be applicable to the cultivation of other commodities.

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  • Grab launches grocery delivery service

    Grab launches grocery delivery service

    It will kick off in Indonesia in July, followed by Thailand and Malaysia by late 2018.

    Grab teamed up with Indonesian start up HappyFresh to launch its grocery delivery services, an announcement revealed. The move is part of Grab’s open platform strategy as it eyes to become Southeast Asia’s first everyday superapp.

    Through GrabFresh, consumers can pick grocery products which will be delivered by GrabExpress drivers and other delivery partners within an hour or at a pre-arranged time.

    “We’ve gone from offering our tech as a booking platform for taxi operators, to providing a fleet of delivery drivers for e-commerce companies,” Grab CEO and co-founder Anthony Tan said.

    Available through the main Grab app, the on-demand grocery delivery platform will kick off as a beta service in Jakarta from July. Thailand and Malaysia can access it by late 2018.

    “Grocery delivery is a huge opportunity in Southeast Asia,” HappyFresh CEO Guillem Segarra said. “From our research, 70% of grocery delivery app users shop at least once per week, and they like to shop from the stores that they are familiar with.”

    The platform includes a selection of about 100,000 grocery products from over 50 large supermarket chains and specialty grocery chains as well as trained personal shoppers who could help pick items for customers.

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  • DRB-Hicom studying Proton-Indonesia joint venture

    DRB-Hicom studying Proton-Indonesia joint venture

    DRB-Hicom Bhd is studying the proposed collaboration between Malaysia and Indonesia to produce an Asean car.

    Group managing director Datuk Seri Syed Faisal Syed Albar said a discussion on the matter is taking place as a memorandum of understanding was signed in 2015 between its subsidiary, Proton Holdings Bhd, and an Indonesian company to undertake the joint effort.

    “There is no cost involved and we need to study it a lot,” he said.

    Proton is 50.1% owned by DRB-Hicom and 49.9% by China-based automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group via its wholly-owned subsidiary, Geely International (Hong Kong) Ltd.

    It was reported earlier that the joint effort between Proton and Indonesia to produce an Asean car would be revived following talks between Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Indonesian President Joko Widodo during the former’s visit to Indonesia last month.

    Meanwhile, Syed Faisal, who is also Proton chairman, disclosed that Geely has invited Mahathir to visit the company’s facilities in China during the prime minister’s visit to the country next month.

    Syed Faisal gave an assurance that the launch of the first Proton sport utility vehicle (SUV) will take place as scheduled in October.

    He said the briefing today also covered future technology offered by Geely.

    “Tun Mahathir likes the SUV that we loaned to him earlier, which indirectly shows that he has confidence in Geely’s technology in Proton,” he said.

    On the Mahathir’s plan for another national car, Syed Faisal said he believes that Proton, as the national car, has secured the confidence of banks, vendors and dealers. “In that regard, we will think of Proton first, and there will be no change in direction on that.”

    Syed Faisal reiterated the group’s commitment to pursue a 30% price cut from its automotive parts suppliers by year-end.

    Also present at the briefing was Dr Li Chunrong, CEO of Proton’s manufacturing arm, Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sdn Bhd.

  • FamilyMart marks its 100th store in Indonesia

    FamilyMart marks its 100th store in Indonesia

    FamilyMart Indonesia has opened its 100th store with plans to continue to expand the network.

    The Japanese-founded convenience-store chain opened its first store in Indonesia in October 2012 and has so far focused on growth in the capital, Jakarta, with a small presence in areas including Depok, Tangerang, Karawang and Bekasi.

    “Our target is to have 120 stores by the end of this year,” FamilyMart Indonesia CEO Wirry Tjandra said at the opening ceremony of the 100th store, which is located at Gran Rubina in South Jakarta.

    Some of the growth has come from taking over stores previously operated by other brands.

    “We have taken over 49 stores from Starmart and 13 stores from 7-Eleven,” Tjandra said.

    FamilyMart has more than 20,000 stores across Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

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  • Indonesia’s Textiles Exporters Brace for Trump’s Trade War

    Indonesia’s Textiles Exporters Brace for Trump’s Trade War

    US President Donald Trump has warned that he may revoke special trade tariffs for Indonesia, especially on textiles, in a bid to reduce his country’s trade deficit, an official said on Thursday (05/07).

    The United States was Indonesia’s second-largest export destination last year, at 11 percent of total exports, or $17 billion. Indonesia enjoyed a surplus of $9.59 billion.

    “[Trump] is now doing as he wishes, including to us. He has warned us that we cannot export more than the United States. He has warned that there are several special tariff arrangements that will be revoked, especially on textiles,” Sofjan Wanandi, chief advisor to Vice President Jusuf Kalla, said during a discussion on Thursday (05/07).

    Indonesia exported textile products, both knitted and unknitted, worth a total of $4.12 billion to the United States last year.

    According to Industry Ministry data, the United States currently imposes import tariffs of between 5 percent and 20 percent on Indonesian textile products, while there are no tariffs on textile imports from Vietnam.

    Sofjan, who recently visited the United States to meet with officials, said it is uncertain what Trump will do in the near future as “no one understands what he actually wants,” he said.

    According to Sofjan, who is also advisory board chairman at the Employer’s Association of Indonesia (Apindo), the US economy is currently thriving, which enables Trump to create and change trade policies as he considers most beneficial.

    “We don’t know when Trump will start the trade war; maybe tomorrow, maybe never,” Sofjan said.

    Retaliation

    Ade Sudrajat, chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association (API), emphasized that Southeast Asia’s largest economy needs to retaliate soon if a higher tariff is enforced.

    “If [a higher tariff] is imposed, it will be a huge obstacle for the textile industry, so it must be countered. If we keep quiet, then we become the losers,” Ade said, adding that Indonesia’s large imports of agricultural products from the United States could be used as a bargaining chip.

    Indonesia imported agricultural products worth $1.27 billion – mainly seed oil, fruits and medicinal plants – from the United States last year, followed by equipment and machinery, animal feeds and cotton.

    Indonesian textile exports rose 4.4 percent to $12.4 billion last year, exceeding the API’s target of $11.8 billion and the Industry Ministry’s $12 billion.

    The ministry has set a textile export target of $13.5 billion for this year and $15 billion for next year.

    The number of people employed in the textile industry increased 17 percent last year to 2.73 million, compared with 3.3 million in the processed food and drinks industry and 3 million in the automotive industry. The ministry seeks to increase the number of people employed in the textile industry to 2.95 million this year and 3.11 million next year.

    According to the Trade Ministry, total investment in the nation’s textile industry amounted to Rp 10.9 trillion ($758 million) in 2017. Indonesia produced about 2 percent of the world’s textile supply, which earned the country $11.87 billion in foreign exchange.

    “It will be unfair for us if the textile industry is targeted and the government prefers to do nothing,” said Ade of the API.

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  • Central Bank Claims Indonesia’s Economy Is Not Overheating

    Central Bank Claims Indonesia’s Economy Is Not Overheating

    The central bank said Indonesia’s widening current-account and trade deficits until the middle of the second quarter of this year should not be seen as indications that the country’s economy is overheating or growing beyond its capacity.

    The country’s trade deficit grew to $2.38 billion between January and May, which is expected to raise the current-account deficit to between 2.5 percent and 3 percent of gross domestic product in the second quarter, according to Bank Indonesia Deputy Governor Mirza Adityaswara.

    Indonesia’s current-account deficit rose to 2.15 percent of GDP in the first quarter, compared with 1.7 percent last year.

    “Actually, if we take out infrastructure imports, which are for long-term development, the trade balance in January-May was in surplus,” Mirza said on Tuesday (03/07).

    Indonesia’s imports of infrastructure goods for development amounted to $4 billion, defense equipment to $1.1 billion and rice to $400 million in the period between January and May, Mirza said.

    Separately, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Tuesday that the government would review its capital goods imports for infrastructure projects to lower the current-account deficit and support Indonesia’s financial markets.

    The deficit exacerbated the rupiah’s decline, which has fallen by more than 6 percent against the US dollar so far this year, as foreign investors dumped Indonesian stocks and bonds in anticipation of higher interest rates in the United States and the growing prospect of a global trade war.

    Bank Indonesia has risen its benchmark rate by 100 basis points in the past six weeks to stem the rupiah decline, but Enny Sri Hartati, director of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), said the rate hikes would only provide foreign investors with good returns in the short term.

    “It’s not that we’re not supporting the interest rate hikes. Our current-account deficit is big and what helps [to balance it] is the capital account, but it’s very difficult to put our hopes on capital coming in from foreign direct investment,” she said.

    Indef also noted that higher interest rates would curb economic growth, which is already suffering from weak domestic consumption and slow loan demand.

    Domestic credit growth, which only rose 10.2 percent year-on-year and 2.93 percent year-to-date in May, also shows that Indonesia is still recovering from adverse global economic conditions. Credit growth rose to above 20 percent in 2013.

    The central bank projected that Indonesia’s economy would grow at 5.2 percent this year, slower than the government’s projection of 5.4 percent as outlined in the 2018 state budget.

    “If the current economic condition continues, we predict that it will not reach 5.2 percent by the end of the year, even with the Asian Games and the IMF-World Bank meeting the government seems to push as economic growth boosters,” said Rusli Abdulah, a researcher at Indef.

  • Link Net and Japan’s Softbank Join Hands to Launch IoT in Indonesia

    Link Net and Japan’s Softbank Join Hands to Launch IoT in Indonesia

    Link Net, an internet service provider operating under Lippo Group subsidiary First Media, and Japanese telecommunications provider SoftBank Corp have signed a partnership agreement to develop and deploy the internet of things, or IoT, in Link Net’s businesses in real estate, health care and mobile ecosystems in Indonesia.

    Link Net chief executive Marlo Budiman and Hidebumi Kitahara, vice president for global business strategy at SoftBank, signed the agreement during a ceremony at Aryaduta Hotel in Central Jakarta on June 29.

    “We are pleased to collaborate with SoftBank in the initial phase of the initiative involving the deployment of IoT devices, along with video analytics for homes, commercial buildings, malls, offices, streets and other areas at our various property developments,” Marlo said in a statement on Thursday (05/07).

    The collaboration will see the deployment of an IoT system in the Lippo Group’s shopping malls and Siloam hospitals, as well as at Meikarta, the company’s $21 billion megaproject in Cikarang, West Java.

    Lippo has billed Meikarta as the Shenzhen of Indonesia, a tech and manufacturing city located in the southern part of mainland China, near Hong Kong.

    Marlo said the development of IoT in Indonesia is in line with the country’s vision of becoming the largest digital economy in Southeast Asia.

    “The global mobile industry is now entering the era of 5G, with IoT becoming the central focal point of innovation. This partnership with Link Net shows our strong commitment to further boost technological innovation in the global market and further advance the development of information and communications technology in Indonesia,” Kitahara said.

    The partnership was initiated during a meeting between Lippo Group deputy chairman James Riady, Lippo Group director John Riady and directors of the SoftBank Group in Tokyo during May this year.

    SoftBank is a subsidiary of the SoftBank Group, a multinational Japanese conglomerate that focuses on information technology, which includes investments in numerous startups and tech conglomerates, such as China’s Alibaba and Malaysian ride-hailing service Grab.

    In addition to internet connectivity and fixed-line communication services, SoftBank is also expanding its business into robotics, financial technology and cloud security systems.

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  • Indonesian Conglomerates-Backed Tech Fund to Be Launched in 6 Months

    Indonesian Conglomerates-Backed Tech Fund to Be Launched in 6 Months

    An Indonesian tech venture capital fund backed by the country’s largest conglomerates will be launched within the next six months, Communications Minister Rudiantara said.

    “We, Indonesian investors, must immediately enter the tech market,” the minister said on Thursday (05/07).

    He said the fund, which would be pooled from Indonesian conglomerates, was supported by his ministry, with its structure being discussed with the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

    The size of the fund has not been disclosed.

    Rudiantara said he held discussions with local conglomerates on how they should unite and support “series A, B and C” as well as “unicorns,” a term used for startups worth at least $1 billion.

    The Sinar Mas Group, one of Indonesia’s largest conglomerates, previously said that it would invest in a pooled venture fund supported by the government.

    The country’s startup sector has witnessed a boom as investors are lured by the youthful demographic in the nation of more than 250 million people, who resort to online shopping for everything from tickets to electronic gadgets.

    “While two national conglomerates such as Djarum and Astra became investors in a ‘unicorn’ such as Go-Jek, it is not enough,” the minister said.

    The country has four “unicorns,” including ride-hailing service Go-Jek, travel site Traveloka and market places Bukalapak and Tokopedia.

     

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  • Indonesia’s June Annual Inflation Rate Slows to 3.12%

    Indonesia’s June Annual Inflation Rate Slows to 3.12%

    Indonesia’s annual inflation rate slowed less than expected in June from a year ago and stayed within Bank Indonesia’s target range, the Central Statistics Agency said on Monday (02/07).

    June’s annual inflation rate came in at 3.12 percent, compared with May’s 3.23 percent. Analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected a rate of 2.88 percent.

    Suhariyanto, the head of the statistics bureau, said the consumer price index rose 0.59 percent on a monthly basis in June, due to rising demand during the Muslim fasting month.

    However, the annual rate fell because of the base effect of high prices during last year’s Ramadan, he said.

    The annual core inflation rate, which excludes government-controlled and volatile food, eased slightly to 2.72 percent in June, from 2.75 percent in May. Bank Indonesia targets inflation at 2.5-4.5 percent this year.

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  • Indonesia to Review Capital Goods Imports to Control Current-Account Deficit

    Indonesia to Review Capital Goods Imports to Control Current-Account Deficit

     Indonesia plans to review the import of capital goods for big government projects to help manage its current-account deficit, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Tuesday (03/07).

    The move forms part of a series of coordinated policy measures to bolster the country’s financial markets.

    The rupiah, stocks and bonds have sold off as investors flee emerging markets amid rising interest rates in the United States, higher oil prices and the threat of a full blown US-China trade war.

    The vulnerability of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has been increased by worries about its current-account deficit.

    Bank Indonesia has raised its benchmark rate by a total of 100 basis points, with the latest hike coming on Friday, amid efforts to defend the rupiah and stem capital outflows.

    Sri Mulyani said the current-account deficit was “a source of negative sentiment” for investors, so authorities were looking at ways to reduce it.

    “We will look at the content, whether a project is urgent to be completed and must import capital goods,” she said, describing the measure as “a short-term correction for long-term development.”

    Indonesia’s current-account deficit was 1.7 percent of gross domestic product last year, but is expected to widen to somewhere below 2.5 percent in 2018 as economic activity improves, the central bank has said.

    Between January and May this year, Indonesia imported $4.1 billion worth of goods in relation to the government’s infrastructure push and another $1.1 billion in defense equipment, central bank data showed.

    The rupiah hit 14,455 to the dollar on Tuesday, the weakest since October 2015 as Asian currencies are roiled by global trade tensions.

    Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo said on Tuesday that the central bank will work with the government to reduce the deficit and pledged to keep intervening in the currency and bond markets.

    Bank Indonesia will remain “pre-emptive, front-loading and ahead of the curve” in its policy setting, he said, including by making sure it is ahead of other emerging markets in terms of attracting investors.

    “When they want to invest in emerging markets, they will compare yields, risk premium and other things. When we make decisions, we have to benchmark ourselves against others,” he said, comparing Indonesia’s real interest rate to India’s before and after Friday’s 50-basis-point rate hike.

    India, Indonesia and the Philippines are considered Asia’s most externally vulnerable economies due to current-account deficits and also due to their appetite for oil imports.

    Sri Mulyani also warned companies to prepare to absorb shocks in their balance sheet from a weaker rupiah and higher interest rates.

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  • Indonesia Extends Freeport’s Grasberg Mine Permit Amid Talks on Environmental Impact

    Indonesia Extends Freeport’s Grasberg Mine Permit Amid Talks on Environmental Impact

    Indonesia has extended a temporary operating permit for Freeport McMoRan’s Grasberg copper mine in Papua until the end of the month while discussions continue over long-term rights, a Mining Ministry official said.

    The United States-based mining giant’s local unit, Freeport Indonesia, was given a temporary operating permit until July 31 for Grasberg, the world’s second-biggest copper mine, Coal and Minerals Director General Bambang Gatot Ariyono said at a press conference on Tuesday (03/07).

    Freeport has been in negotiations with Indonesia to secure long-term operating rights at Grasberg after the government introduced new rules last year aimed at giving it greater control of its resources.

    However, efforts to finalize a deal have been overshadowed by concerns over Grasberg’s environmental footprint.

    “This month we hope all of the aspects – the divestment transaction, investment stability guarantees, the environment, a smelter – all of them are resolved,” Gatot said.

    Freeport’s previous temporary operating permit for Grasberg expired on June 30 after being awarded in January.

    Freeport’s Grasberg partner Rio Tinto and state-owned mining holding company Inalum are also involved in negotiations on Grasberg, which needs significant investment to develop an underground phase from its current open-pit construction.

    Inalum may complete a multi-billion-dollar deal to acquire a majority stake in Grasberg this month, officials said on Saturday, but details on how Freeport will maintain operational control have yet to emerge.

    According to Gatot, the main issues to be resolved were environmental matters, and discussions were ongoing “between the Environment and Forestry Ministry, the Freeport team and Inalum, who have requested an opportunity to resolve them.”

    Other matters, which include a requirement for Freeport to build a second copper smelter and adopt a new tax regime, “are nearly finalized,” he said.

    A 2017 state audit of operations at Grasberg that outlined massive damage from Freeport’s mine waste and a lack of proper environmental permits has complicated efforts to wrap up the deal.

    In April, following the audit, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar issued two decrees that gave Freeport six months to overhaul management of its mine waste.

    Freeport’s average daily copper ore production at Grasberg was between 175,000 and 176,000 metric tons so far this year, below its 2018 target of 230,000 tons, Gatot said.

    The company exported 465,000 tons of copper concentrate from February to mid-June, he added.

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  • Jokowi Opens Indonesia’s First Wind Power Plant

    Jokowi Opens Indonesia’s First Wind Power Plant

    As President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo inaugurated Indonesia’s first wind power plant in Sidenreng Rappang, South Sulawesi, on Monday (02/07), the government is getting closer to its ambitious target of obtaining more than a fifth of the country’s energy from renewable sources.

    The plant, also known as PLTB Sidrap, consists of 30 wind turbines which can produce up to 75 megawatts and electrify 80,000 households. The turbines in 40 percent consist of locally produced components.

    “This puts Indonesia among the few Asian countries that posses wind power plants, like Japan, China and Korea,” Jokowi said in a statement.

    Sidrap started its development in 2015 with $150 million borne by a consortium comprising of UPC Renewables Asia I, UPC Renewables Asia III, Sunedison and Binatek Energi Terbarukan.

    A similar project in Bantul, Yogyakarta, also developed  by UPC Renewables, was shelved in 2017 due to land clearance problems.

    Jokowi seeks to connect 99 percent of Indonesians to the country’s grid by 2019, when his first presidential term ends. Currently, the electrification rate is 96 percent.

    Indonesia aims to have 23 percent of its total power coming from renewable resources by 2025, also to fulfill its climate change mitigation commitment, in accordance with the Paris Agreement.

    Today, only 14 percent of the country’s energy is clean. More than half of it still comes from coal-powered plants.

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