Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, the plain-speaking senior economist who was recently appointed Indonesia’s new finance minister, can’t be more different to Sri Mulyani, his reformist predecessor who led the country’s fiscal policymaking for more than a decade.
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A halt in production at the giant Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia looks set to strain the fractious relationship between miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc. and its host nation, at a time when the Jakarta government was already looking to take greater control.
The rupiah has been under renewed pressure since BI unexpectedly cut policy rates on September 17, a move viewed by the market as bowing to President Prabowo Subianto’s push to accelerate economic growth.
The government has confirmed plans to advance its biodiesel program with a mandatory blend of either B50 (50% palm-based biodiesel) or B45 starting in 2026, though the final decision is still under review.
The Indonesia Investment Authority is prioritising digital infrastructure, healthcare and renewables as the sovereign wealth fund seeks foreign partners and supports the nation’s economic development, its chief investment officer told Reuters.
Indonesia on Monday announced a new economic stimulus package worth 16.23 trillion rupiah ($989 million), including food assistance and an infrastructure building programme that could provide temporary work for more than 600,000 people.
Timor Leste’s position as a “launchpad” to markets in Indonesia and northern Australia makes it an attractive destination for Malaysian investors, training institutions and media organisations, said Malaysian ambassador to Timor-Leste Datuk Amarjit Singh.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises has partnered with the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) to launch a program aimed at developing tech-based young entrepreneurs.
The centrepiece of a programme to provide free meals to 83 million children and expectant mothers, the plan calls for importing a million dairy cows over five years, at a cost of nearly $3 billion, to lift the size of the country’s dairy herd more than four-fold from 220,000 now.
Indonesia has approved the authorization of 17 new Brazilian meatpacking plants to export beef, bringing the total number of units authorized to ship to the country to 38.
Indonesia’s 2014 raw mineral export ban, supported by Chinese investment, transformed it into the world’s top nickel producer and spurred local job growth. Now aiming to build a whole domestic EV industry, the country faces challenges such as low demand, labour unrest, and environmental concerns, casting doubt on its long-term success.
Located on Batam Island, which is an hour by ferry to Singapore, Mayapada and its partner Apollo Hospitals—owned by Indian billionaire Prathap Reddy—is investing more than 1 trillion rupiah ($65 million) to build a 250-bed hospital in a special economic zone being promoted by the Indonesian government for tourism and healthcare.
Indonesia is seeking to attract Australian drugmakers with promises of cheaper clinical trials and faster approvals for new medicines as it pitches itself as an alternative to Donald Trump’s America where regulatory upheaval and a tariff war are putting off foreign firms.
I let the Indonesian tourists watch me, maybe jealous, as I float on my back in the otherworldly waters of Pulau Bair, a remote, uninhabited islet on the northernmost fringe of Kei Kecil, the smallest of the two main Kei Islands — an archipelago of about 250 islets, some of East Indonesia’s lesser-known gems.
People tend to make decisions based on habit, convenience or incentives, rather than purely rational cost-benefit analysis. In Indonesia’s case, instant rewards like e-wallet cashback or the speed of BI-FAST make digital options feel easier and smarter, even if users do not always consider long-term trade-offs.
Indonesia’s Food and Drug Authority (BPOM) is working with Australian stakeholders to accelerate access to a new class of synthetic antibiotics aimed at combating antimicrobial resistance and supporting the country’s pharmaceutical self-sufficiency.
