Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Eddie Widiono Suwondo, president of state power utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), is struggling to bring the virtually bankrupt monopoly back into the blac

Washington (Agencies) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday approved a fresh loan worth US$469 million to Indonesia, bringing its total lending to about US$3.5 billion under

The Indonesian Government has signed a new Letter of Intent (LoI) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), together with a memorandum on eonomic and financial policies (MEFP) to IMF

Jakarta – International credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service has maintained its positive outlook for Indonesia, on the back of the country's political stability and continued

Tony Sitathan, Singapore – After last October's bombing in Bali, Indonesia's foreign investment was hit hard, sliding to a record low.

Highly debatable are both the rationale used by the team of more than 30 economists to support their recommendation for abruptly ending Indonesia's reform program with the International

Robert Go – When Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT) paid 5.62 trillion rupiah (S$1.2 billion) for Indonesia's second-biggest telephone company last December, the story should have e

Adianto P.

Mark Dodd, Dili – In the laboratory of Cafi Cooperative Timor (CCT), senior adviser Alistair Laird, a "cupping" expert, is applying a final quality-control test to assess the fragrance,

The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) released investment figures for the month of January late last week revealing a steep fall in foreign direct investment (FDI) approvals but an u

Jakarta – Indonesia's economy probably expanded in the fourth quarter as Muslim holy days and other festivals spurred spending on food and gifts, analysts say.

More troubles surfaced last week in the government and Bank Indonesia's (BI) efforts to cover the costs of the disastrous bank bailout of the late 1990s just as many of those responsibl

Paul Toohey – Critically needed containers of medical, health and school supplies have been stockpiled on Dili's wharf because of heavy smuggling and what East Timorese-based aid worker

Bill Guerin – Jakarta has officially announced that regional governments can now borrow from foreign sources if certain conditions are met.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – The country's export performance turned out last year to be better than many had expected, thanks to stronger exports of agriculture and low-end manufacturing

Indonesia's exports rose 1.2 per cent to $US57 billion ($97.3 billion) in 2002 from a year earlier, helped by higher oil and commodity prices as well as a boost in overseas orders for m

Tony Sitathan, Jakarta – A retired stockbroker who once assisted Indah Kiat Paper and Pulp – considered the darling of the paper and pulp industry at one time before being swallowed up

Robert Go, Nusa Dua – International donors have pledged US$2.7 billion in fresh aid to cash-strapped Indonesia this year, despite ongoing concerns about its inability to implement cruci

Joanne Collins, Bali – Indonesia would not need to "beg" for money from the international community if it tackled the corruption costing the cash-strapped country some $28.4 billion a y

Bali – Indonesia's moves to reduce earlier announced rises in fuel prices were very understandable and would not compromise its goals of keeping its budget deficit under control, an IMF

Joanne Collins, Bali – Indonesia's government said on Tuesday it wanted an end to IMF funding this year, seeking to break a financial lifeline in place since the Asian financial crisis

Joanne Collins, Jakarta – Happy with Indonesia's fight against terror and its efforts for peace in Aceh, international donors look set this week to pledge the $2.8 billion in aid that t

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Millions of Indonesians face poverty as investors continue to desert the country largely because of rampant corruption and collapsing infrastructure, a new repo

Bill Guerin – The Indonesian government raised fuel prices, electricity rates, and telephone charges at the start of the year in an effort to slash expensive subsidies and help ailing s

Tony Sitathan, Jakarta – "I do not know how I am going to survive with three children, an ailing mother and an unemployed husband, with the current increases in basic electricity and te

Jakarta – Indonesia's foreign direct investment pledges slumped 35 per cent last year compared with 2001, a bad sign for economic growth and a reminder of the nation's reputation as a t

The recent furore over Singapore Technologies Telemedia's purchase of a major stake in Indonesia's Indosat is just a case of domestic political bickering, a former Indonesian minister s

Bill Guerin – Indonesia's largest supermarket chain PT Hero Supermarket plans to open three hypermarkets on the outskirts of Jakarta this year to stem a steady drop in the chain's marke

Jakarta – Indonesia's year-on-year inflation was 10.03 percent in December against 10.48 percent in November, the statistics bureau said on Thursday.

Bill Guerin – In the past three years Japanese electronics giant Sony has shut down 16 plants across the globe and laid off thousands of its workers.

Mark Egan, Washington – The International Monetary Fund on Thursday approved a $365 million loan payment to Indonesia under the nation's $4.8 billion loan and urged the nation to undert

Robert Go, Jakarta – Rising wages, coupled with a hyperactive labour force, are turning off foreign investors, some of whom are packing up and abandoning the country.

Robert Go, Jakarta – After the private bank that Ms Sri Astuti worked for folded in 1998, she sought a clerical job at other offices.

Jane Perlez, Denpasar – His fingers clasp a long brush and with the finest of strokes, Nyoman Kantor paints the figures of a Balinese myth onto eggshell.

Japanese technology company Sony Corporation will close its audio equipment manufacturing plant in Indonesia due to labour and tax problems.

Haidir Anwar Tandjung and Apriadi Gunawan, Medan/Pekanbaru – Tembilahan, a small coastal town in the Riau regency of Indragiri Hilir, has drawn a lot of attention from small-scale busin

Jakarta – The number of foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia in 2002 is estimated at only 20 percent of its target figure of 4.3 million to 5.4 million, the country's top tourism offic

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – A new initiative to boost prospects for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in eastern Indonesia has been launched by the International Finance Corporation (IFC),

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – The city administration announced on Friday that the recent Bali bombing tragedy has affected the city's economic growth, and has forced a revision from the pre

[In the wake of the October 12 bombing on the Sari Club at Kuta Beach, tourist arrivals to the island of Bali have fallen by 75 percent.

A lack of foreign investment rules has been highlighted as the main factor restricting economic growth in the newly independent East Timor.

Bill Guerin – Indonesian investors are to be wooed in a deliberate effort to release the potential of the domestic economy and get money flowing through the business infrastructures.

Robert Go, Tabanan (Bali) – Some of Indonesia's top businessmen are thumbing their noses at the nation's latest bid to collect outstanding debts worth more than US$13 billion, leaving o

Bill Guerin – The financial crisis of 1997 brought Indonesia's previously spectacular economic growth to an abrupt halt.

Tony Sitathan – The recent bomb blasts in Bali have created what some experts describe as a "terrorism risk premium" not just to Indonesia but to all of Southeast Asia.

Jakarta – Indonesia's economic growth is expected to be shaved to as low as 3.1 per cent this year after the deadly terrorist bombing in Bali, analysts say, citing rising risk premium a

Tony Sitathan – Irwin Goenawan graduated at the top in his class studying for magister manajeman, the Indonesian equivalent of a master of business administration (MBA) degree.

As global stock markets slide and a lack of leadership on international reform colored the annual meetings last week of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meeti

John McBeth, Jakarta – Black markings along its flanks, a large grey fish glides across the aquarium at the far end of Eddie Widiono's tasteful, wood-panelled office in south Jakarta.

The United States and Indonesia have agreed to reschedule nearly 500 million US dollars in debt owed by Indonesia and due to mature shortly.