A credit rating upgrade to one step below investment grade for Indonesia by Moody's Investors Service was overdue given the persistent improvement of the country's economy in the past f

Jakarta – The World Bank expects Indonesia's economy to expand 6.2 percent in 2011, less than the official government estimate of 6.4 percent.

Bernie Moestafa – Indonesia's stocks tumbled, with the benchmark index set for the biggest drop in more than two years, amid concern accelerating inflation will curb returns and prompt

Armando Siahaan, Jakarta – Against a backdrop of growing concern that inflation could dent the armor of what has been a resilient and robust national economy, President Susilo Bambang Y

SK Zainuddin & Francezka Nangoy – Indonesia enjoyed a bumper year in 2010 as rising consumer demand, strong commodity prices and low interest rates combined to create a virtuous cyc

Dion Bisara – Two years after the tumultuous global financial crisis, the Indonesian banking system is back on solid footing to spur lending and help boost economic growth in Southeast

Olivia Rondonuwu & Neil Chatterjee, Jakarta – Indonesia's selection of less aggressive candidates to head antigraft institutions and failure to make progress on big corruption cases

Jakarta – The country's prevailing lending growth is still too low to support economic growth targets of 7 percent within the next few years, economic observers say.

Dion Bisara, Jakarta – The World Bank revised down its 2010 growth forecast for Indonesia by 0.1 percentage points to 5.9 percent on Thursday.

Ismira Lutfia, Jakarta – The Press Council on Wednesday said it could not find evidence that bourse journalists had blackmailed Krakatau Steel in exchange for shares, but they did find

Faisal Maliki Baskoro & Fransiska Nangoy, Jakarta – With economic opportunity knocking on Indonesia's doors, the freshly formed board of the country's chamber of commerce has called

Faisal Maliki Baskoro & Nariswari Dita Yudianti, Jakarta – Speculation that Krakatau Steel's initial public offering price was kept artificially low to benefit connected investors m

Doddy Ariefianto, Jakarta – The Indonesian economy has never looked better, with significant improvements in key areas, but economists and business players have warned of flaws that cou

Jakarta Globe & Bloomberg, Jakarta – Indonesia has been hammered in a World Bank report ranking countries with the most business-friendly regulations.

Dion Bisara & AFP, Jakarta – A policy group has urged Indonesia to renew its efforts to reform the bureaucracy, invest heavily in infrastructure and cut greenhouse gas emissions whi

Shirley Christie, Indonesia – Indonesia saw foreign direct investment jump 32 percent to Rp 111.1 trillion ($12.4 billion), excluding oil and gas, and banking, in the first nine months

Stephen Coates, Dili – A jade elephant rears majestically in the corner as patrons tuck into their burgers and fries at one of only three US-style fast-food joints in East Timor, all of

Ririn Radiawati Kusuma & Bloomberg, Jakarta – In what analysts labeled a risky move, the government on Wednesday said it would sell about 60 percent of the nation's stock of crude o

Indonesia's monthly exports climbed to their highest value ever in August, totaling US$13.71 billion, a 9.76 percent increase from the $12.49 billion recorded in July, the Central Stati

Nicholas Jones – East Timor will lose more than revenue if a dispute with Woodside Petroleum over where gas from the Greater Sunrise field will be processed is not resolved, says an aca

Karon Snowdon – Woodside Petroleum has denied reports it is willing to consider processing gas from the Greater Sunrise field in East Timor.

Australia's Woodside Petroleum has promised East Timor it will re-examine Dili's demands for gas from the Greater Sunrise field to be processed on East Timorese soil, an official said o

Stephen Coates, Jakarta – The mix of stability, relatively calm politics and solid economic growth is seeing investors clamor to gain a foothold in Indonesia.

Stephen Coates, Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund warned on Friday that Indonesia must make fighting corruption a priority if it wants to build on its progress as one of the wor

Jakarta – The government expects foreign direct investment to pick up more than expected to Rp 126 trillion ($14 billion) in 2010, up a third since last year.

Jakarta – Mochamad Tjiptardjo, general director of taxation, said on Tuesday that the Finance Ministry was preparing to offer investment incentives in the form of a tax holiday.

Jakarta – Indonesia will maintain a conservative fiscal policy despite pressure to fast-track infrastructure projects, the Coordinating Economic Ministry says, insisting on public-priva

Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – Nongovernmental groups are urging the government to participate in the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, in a bid to combat corruption and minimize po

Indonesia is the worst country in Asia when it comes to protecting intellectual property rights, according to a survey of expatriate businessmen.

Jakarta – Foreign loans borrowed by Indonesia's private sector nearly doubled during the first half as companies began increasing their spending to finance expansion following a slowdow

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Businesspeople in East Java say there are thousands of burdensome bylaws in place that fail to guarantee security for businesses and are partly to blame for

Irvan Tisnabudi, Jakarta – A wide range of Chinese goods has flooded Indonesia since the Asean-China free-trade pact took effect on Jan.

Dion Bisara, Singapore – Indonesia's economy grew at a better-than-expected 6.2 percent in the second quarter of 2010 from the same period a year ago, thanks to strong investment, expor

Jakarta – Investment in Indonesia, including from both foreign and domestic investors, rose 40 percent in the second quarter of 2010 from the same period a year ago, said the country's

Jakarta – Indonesia's target to achieve economic growth of 7 percent a year within the next few years will be difficult to reach if no significant improvement is made in the country's t

Latif Adam – Well-developed infrastructure has been a key factor in China's success in achieving high and sustained economic growth.

Winarno Zain, Jakarta – The decision by the Bank Indonesia (BI) Board of Governors to maintain its current benchmark interest rate at 6.5 percent in their last meeting was not surprisin

Jakarta – It is time to spend money on lifestyle and long vacations, Indonesians say, amid a positive sentiment toward the economy and a declining fear of spending, a survey says.

Stephanie Phang – Capital inflows pose a bigger risk to Indonesia than inflation, and may prompt the central bank to introduce more measures to reduce short-term money even as it delays

Matt Chambers – When East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta fronts the National Press Club in Canberra today, the Greater Sunrise gas partners – led by Woodside Petroleum – are hoping fo

East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta is using a state visit to Australia to try to calm escalating tensions over the development of the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field in the Timor

Ray Brindal and Rachel Pannett, Canberra – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday a decision on a site for a plant to process gas from the Greater Sunrise field will be ma

Linda Mottram, Canberra

Hong Kong.

Vincent Lingga, Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) charted out Thursday a rosy outlook for Indonesia's economy for the rest of this year with an estimated growth of 6 perce

Neil Chatterjee & Gde Anugrah Arka – The International Monetary Fund on Thursday forecast Indonesia's economic growth will accelerate this year amid improving investment and said th

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Indonesia has issued a new presidential regulation that increases foreign ownership limits for certain local businesses and properties.

Agus Maryono, Cilacap – More than 90 percent of the country's 15.5 million fishermen are living below the poverty line due to an underdeveloped local fishing industry, an official from

East Timor's government is emphatic it would rather leave the Greater Sunrise gas deposits under the Timor Sea than drop its demand the gas be piped to East Timor for processing.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – East Timor has accused Woodside of "grandstanding" over its plans to build a floating liquefied natural gas platform above the Timor Sea's Greater Sunrise fiel