NON TARIFF TRADE BARRIERS ‘MISGUIDED’

Irvan Trisnabudi
Jakarta Globe Monday, februari 22,2010


Analysts and bussiness leaders have criticized the goverment’s attempt to limit the impact of the Asean-china Free Trade Agreement by imposing non-tariff barriers, claiming this approach will be in effective and costly.
The goverment has said it will protect the domestic market from a likely flood of cheap chinese goods by strengthening national quality standars on imported products and requiring imports of certain goods to be shipped trought five designated ports.
But while the trade and industry ministries are appealing for more money to support thesenon tariff barriers, business leaders believe the goverment should focus on helping domestic industry rather than restricting foreign competitors.
“I think it’s better for the goverment to pay more attention to thigs that are keeping our businessess from getting more competitive, such as relatively high interest rate,” said Djiman to secretary general of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo).
Ernovian Ismy, secretary general of the Indonesian Textile Association (API), echoed this. “The budget for monitoring the flow of illegal imports allowcated to the Trade Ministry should not be increased because if imports are only allowed in specific entry points, it already decreases monitoring costs. More budget should be allocated for lowering lending interest rates,” Ernovian said.
Juniman an economist at PT Bank International Indonesia argued that without better financing, the non-tariff barriers would not be efective. He sugessted the money would be better spent supporting domestic industry in more direct ways.
“We wouldn’t need these non-tariff barriers if our industries could compete with china’s,” he said. “I doubt the two non-tariff bariers schemes could perform up to their maximum potencial, because it’s hard for the goverment to be able to completely fulfill the additional budget and facilities demanded by both ministries”.
To meet intenational guidelines on product quality, the goverment has been enforcing the Indonesian National Standars (SNI) certification process on certain finished-good imports since 2001.
At the end of last year, it added a number of new products including mineral water, tires, helmet, gas-tank regulators and safety equipment to the list of those that must meet the standars.
The goverment also plans to enforce the rules more stringently to ensure that lower-quality imports are kept out. But according to Agus Tjahyana the Ministry of industry’s secretary general, the goverment needs more invesment from the private sector and help from universities that process laboratory testing facilities if it’s to be able to enforce the standars.
Agus said the current total of 500 labs was insufficient to conduct the requaired testing on more than 2000 different product standars. “for example, to take care of the SNI for all imported helnets coming to Indonesia, we only have one laboratory, located in Bandung,” Agus said.
“We would need at least five more to keep up with the millions and millions of helmets flowing into our country.” Djimanto also said the existing infrastucture was inadequate to ensure that the standars are properly enforced.
“We still see many products in retail markets that fail to meet the required SNI,” hesaid. Subagyo the Trade Ministry’s director general for domestic trade said the Rp 15billion annual budgets for monitoring illegal imports was insufficient. He called for the goverment to double it at the last.

VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS URGED TO FOCUS ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Ulma Haryanto
Jakart Globe, Wednesday februari 24 2010

Certification for skills and competency was not enough for vocational high schools, a goverment official said on Tuesday adding that entrepreneurship was also needed to cut the country’s steep unemployment rate.
“Getting certification does not mean that they are guaranted a job. What we would like to push here is the entrepreneurial skills of our graduates so that they can depend on themselves to create jobs,” said joko sutrisno, director of vocational schools at the Ministry of National Education.
“Certification are just a way to identify a skill. To increase employment opportunity, the economy has to be stimulated by creating more businesse. That is why entrepreneurial skills are very important.”
According to ministry data 25 million high school and vocational school graduates were unemployed in 2009 compared with 3.8 million with bachelor’s degrees and three million holding university diplomas.
Deputy education minister Fasli Jalal has said the ministry, to gether with the ministry of manpower and transmigration, would tell employers to start outlining the certified skills needed to quality for jobs.
Taufik Yudi Mulyanto, head of the jakarta education agency, said vocational schools played a strategic role in a city, “where there are a alot of job opportunities that can be created and a lot of manpower available.”
He also said trade schools should apply for international certification so their students would be qualified to work anywhere in the world.
But Joko dismissed more certification as “an easy answer,” and said it was important for graduates to be able to create their own job opportunities so did not “just graduate with a certificate but can’t find work anywhere.”
Over the past two years, vocational schools have been including industry-specific skills to boost students abilities to start their businesses in various fields such as computing, automotive, construction, hospitality and in the creative arts.
Trade schools Joko said were also encouraged to work with industry partners and invite experts from the field to assist instuctors. Noor fuadiyah zuhaedah from prestasi junior indonesia, an entrepreneurial education institution assisting vocational schools said to increase business acumen students were encouraged to under take extracurricular activities such as assisting at school can teens or launching recycling or small accessories bisinesses.

LATE SURGE LIFTS 2009 GDP PAST FORECAST

LATE SURGE LIFTS 2009 GDP PAST FORECAST


Ardian Wibisono & Muhammad Al azhari
Jakarta Globe Thursday,February 11,2010


Indonesia posted full-year economic growth of 4.5 percent in 2009, slightly higher than the goverment’s forecast, thanks to better-than-expected exports and resilient consumer spending, the central statistic agency said on Wednesday.
The news was welcomed by finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Hatta Rajasa, the coordinating minister for the economy.
“for sure, the 4.5 percent growth is higher than what the goverment had been projecting at the 4.3 percent. This shows that growth in the fourth quarter was remarkably strong,” Sri Mulyani said.
Indonesia posted year-on year growth of 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter, according to the statistic agency also known as the BPS. That was stonger than the 4.4 percent average prediction from a survey of economists by the jakarta globe.
Fourt-quarter GDP growth was the highest since the third quarter of 2008, when the economy expended by 6.25 percent according to revised data from BPS.
“this will be our basis for reviewing the supporting factors that helped our economy” Sri Mulyani said.
Hatta said that goverment would look to futher stimulate investment, address botle-neck problems and stoke the economy with infrastructure projects.
Indonesia coped better than neightboring economies during the global slowdown because it relies less on exports and consumer spending was boosted by the elections and the goverment’s fiscal stimulus package, said slamet sutomo deputy to the head of the BPS.
“Indonesia is not like singapore. Their economy is 100 percent reliant on exports, so when the global crisis occured, singapore immadiately collapsed” slamet said.
Gundy cahyadi an economist from IDEAGlobal in singapore, sid: “Data came in strong, which is positive for sentiment on the economy, but the modest reaction in market seems to indicate that the market is still very much focused on external rather than domestic forces.”
In 2009 indonesia’s non oil and gas exports totaled $ 97.5 billion, a 9.7percent decline from 2008. The figure was still better than most forecast. Early in the year it was widely predicted exports would plunge 10 percent to 15 percent as a result of the global downturn. In 2008 exports grew 4.9 percent in 2009 from a year ago, slowling slightly from the 5.34 percent pace in 2008. Consumption accounted for 58.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2009 compared with 60.6 percent in 2008. Exports accounted for 24.1 percent of GDP down from 29.8 percent in 2008. Investment made up 31.1 percent up from 27.7 percent and the contribution from state spending inreased to 9.6 percent from 8.4 percent in 2008.

Berkembangnya Restoran-Restoran Cepat Saji

Berkembangnya Restoran-Restoran Cepat Saji

Oleh: Eta Novita


Sekarang ini persaingan bisnis di bidang pangan sangatlah pesat, banyak entrepreneur yang membuka restoran-restoran dari yang berskala kecil hingga berskala besar. Namun usaha yang sangat pesat ialah restoran-restoran yang menyajikan makanan cepat saji. Dapat dilihat pada setiap pusat perbelanjaan sangatlah banyak restoran yang berkonsep makanan cepat saji. Konsepnya pun beragam terdiri dari restoran cepat saji yang menyajikan makanan ala western food seperti fried chicken, hamburger, sandwich. Italian food seperti spaghetti, lasagne, macaroni. Dan juga ala japannese food seperti ebi katsu, tempura, teriyyaki dan lain-lain.
Tetapi justru makanan cepat saji tersebut yang sangat diminati oleh konsumen. Itu semua dapat dilihat dari banyaknya customer yang lebih memilih mendatangi restoran cepat saji dibandingkan restoran lain. Dapat dimaklumi mengapa konsumen lebih menyukai untuk mendatangi retoran cepat saji yaitu adalah karena harga yang ditawarkan oleh restoran cepat saji lebih murah, selain itu pada restoran cepat saji biasanya menawarkan makanan berupa paket-paket yang tentunya sangat menarik sehingga konsumen lebih suka memilih menu paket yang ditawarkan oleh restoran cepat saji tersebut.
Walaupun sebenarnya rasa maupun kualitas dari makanan tersebut sangatlah berbeda dengan makanan yang bukan dari restoran yang berkonsep cepat saji. Tetapi itu semua tidak menjadi alasan untuk tidak membeli makanan dari restoran cepat saji. Permintaan konsumen untuk makanan cepat saji sangatlah besar sehingga bertambah banyaknya restoran-restoran yang berkonsep menyajikan makanan cepat saji. Banyaknya permintaan sehingga timbul pula penawaran yang ikut pula berkembang pesat.
Banyaknya minat konsumen untuk lebih memilih makanan cepat saji pun kembali lagi kepada kondisi ekonomi masyarakat yang berpendapatan cukup, sehingga minat atau keinginan untuk membeli makanan cepat saji lebih tinggi karena dilihat dari segi harga yang jauh lebih murah dan ditawarkan dengan berbagai macam paket-paket yang lebih ekonomis.
Oleh sebab itu lah restoran yang menyajikan makanan cepat saji sangat berkembang pesat karena minat konsumen pun tinggi atas makanan tersebut. Konsumen dapat menikmati makanan dengan ala dari luar negri yaitu western, italian, japanesse food dan lain-lain.

INVESTMENT PRODUCT BANNED FOR NOW

INVESTMENT PRODUCT BANNED FOR NOW


Yohannes Obor
Jakarta Globe Friday,February 19,2010

The capital market and financial Institutions SupervisorAagency on Thursday ruled that fund managers are no longer allowed to raise public money via discretionary funds until a regulation governing the investment product is enacted in march.
Djoko Hendratto, head of investment management at the agency which is known as Bapeppam-LK, said existing discretionary funds would have to adaptance the regulation was issued.
“we are still drafting rules on bilateral and collective funds management contracts. Once the rules are issued, the issuance of traditional bilateral and collective funds management contracts will be prohibited,” Djoko told the jakarta globe on Thursday.
A discretionary fund is a two party investment contract between a fund manager and an individual customer. Bapepam-LK has not regulated this business as the transaction only involves two parties.
However recent cases of alleged fraud caused cusromer to suffer multitrillion-rupiah losses, prompting Bapepam-LK to draft a reglulation on discretionanry funds.
One such scandal involvedPT Antaboga Delta Securitas, an affiliate of the former PT Bank Century, whose customer lost up to Rp 2.5 trillion.
Djiko earlier said that under the planned regulation, investment managers will be requaired to separate discretionary funds between customers’ accounts and the accounts of investment managers and put the customers’ funds in custodian banks.
Investment managers are also requaired to offer bilateral investments contract in a certain nominal value, as discretionary funds impose higher risk than investments in mutual funds, he said.

UBS says Indonesia's economic growth to reach 6 percent in 2010, 2011

JAKARTA, Oct. 28, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Spurred by strong domestic demands, increasing government spending and presumed-stable security and political condition, Indonesian economic growth would reach 6 percent in 2010 and 2011, UBS (NYSE:UBS) said on Wednesday. 28, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) - spurred by strong domestic demands, increasing government spending and Presumed-stable security and political condition, Indonesian economic growth would reach 6 percent in 2010 and 2011, UBS (NYSE: UBS) said on Wednesday.

Speaking in a session to convey his outlook on Indonesia's economy in 2010, Edward Teather, the UBS Executive Director and Senior Economist at Singapore-based UBS ASEAN Research office, said that Indonesia's growth forecast is based on improving confidence along with the pro-growth policies on the part of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who was re-elected. Speaking in a session to Convey his outlook on Indonesia's economy in 2010, Edward Teather, the UBS Executive Director and Senior Economist at UBS Singapore-based ASEAN Research Office, said that Indonesia's growth forecast is based on improving confidence along with the pro-growth policies on the part of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who was re-elected.

"We expect Indonesia to record a less exciting, but relatively stable, economic growth profile through 2011," the senior analyst at the Swiss-based financial and investment institution said. "We expect Indonesia to record a less exciting, but Relatively stable, economic growth profile through 2011," the senior analyst at the Swiss-based financial and investment institution said.

He added that Indonesia's improving economic growth in the following years would be greatly affected by the global economy that started to be recovered from the crisis that has been lingering since late last year. He added that Indonesia's improving economic growth in the following years would be greatly affected by the global economy that started to be recovered from the crisis that has been lingering since late last year.

On the part of Indonesia, the economic recovery has been starting in the last few months with indicators seen in the increasing sales of motorcycles, household electricity and cements in domestic market, Edward added. On the part of Indonesia, the economic recovery has been starting in the last few months with indicators seen in the increasing sales of motorcycles, household electricity and cements in domestic market, added Edward.

With less dependence on export, he said that Indonesian economic growth would be one of the highest in Asian economies other than China and India, the two Asia's emerging economy countries. With less dependence on exports, he said that Indonesian economic growth would be one of the highest in Asian economies other than China and India, the two of Asia's emerging economy countries.

Furthermore Edward estimated that Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth would reach 4 percent this year and continue to be increasing up to 5.3 percent in 2010. Furthermore Edward estimated that Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth would reach 4 percent this year and continue to be increasing up to 5.3 percent in 2010.

Apart from that, the UBS senior analyst estimated that Indonesia's inflation rate on Consumer Price Index (CPI) basis would reach at a range of 4 to 6 percent in 2010 at the latest, with regular inflation would increase from 2.4 in September this year to 7 percent by the end of 2010. Apart from that, the UBS senior analyst estimated that Indonesia's inflation rate on Consumer Price Index (CPI) would reach base at a range of 4 to 6 percent in 2010 at the latest, with the regular inflation would increase from 2.4 in September this year to 7 percent by the end of 2010.
(Source: iStockAnalyst ) (Source: iStockAnalyst)

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Why Indonesia's Economy and ETF May See Higher Growth

September 19, 2009 at 1:00 am by Tom Lydon
Indonesia is doing something right and its economy, as well as its related exchange traded fund (ETF), may produce higher-than-expected growth in the coming years.

High spending on legislative and presidential elections along with increases in government expenditure disbursements allowed the World Bank to revise projections for Indonesia's growth this year upward to 4.3% from 3.5%, reports Aditya Suharmoko for The Jakarta Post . High spending on legislative and presidential elections along with increases in government expenditure disbursements allowed the World Bank to revise projections for Indonesia's growth this year upward to 4.3% from 3.5%, reports Aditya Suharmoko for The Jakarta Post.

The World Bank estimates Indonesia's economy will reach 5.4% growth in 2010, while the Indonesian government is shooting for a 5.5% growth target for 2010. The World Bank estimates Indonesia's economy will reach 5.4% growth in 2010, while the Indonesian government is shooting for a 5.5% growth target for 2010.

Indonesia's domestic market and its low reliance on exports allowed the economy to dodge the full force of the global financial crisis. Indonesia's domestic market and its low reliance on exports allowed the economy to dodge the full force of the global financial crisis. The country also has a strong banking sector and sound macroeconomic management. The country also has a strong banking sector and sound Macroeconomic management.

The Indonesian government is continuing to disburse its stimulus, which is driving up domestic demand, a key factor in the country's economic growth. The Indonesian government is continuing to disburse its stimulus, which is driving up domestic demand, a key factor in the country's economic growth. The government believes deficit will run at 2.4% of GDP for 2009, while the World Bank forecasts a 2.2% GDP deficit. The government believes will run deficit at 2.4% of GDP for 2009, while the World Bank forecasts a 2.2% GDP deficit.

* Market Vectors Indonesia ETF (NYSEArca: IDX ) : up 34.5% in the last three months Indonesia Market Vectors ETF (NYSEArca: IDX): up 34.5% in the last three months

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