MANUFACTURING SECTOR CAN BE INDONESIA'S BACKBONE IN AEC

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Jan 31 (Antara) -- It is believed that the Indonesian market will have the most potential in the region, following the commencement of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) at the end of 2015.       This certainty is keeping in mind that Indonesia is the largest member state of the ASEAN, with a population of more than 240 million.          Therefore, Indonesia should increase its competitiveness, if it wants its market to play a major role in the region and prevent the flood of products from other ASEAN nations into the country.          "With the observation that Indonesia's economic growth prospects are likely to remain positive, the country will become an important target market for various member countries of the ASEAN," Dean of Gadjah Mada University's Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Erwan Agus Purwanto, said.          He pointed out that with its gross domestic product being the largest in the region, Indonesia will become the target market for Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and other ASEAN countries.

TOURISM SECTOR TO BE INTEGRATED WITH MARITIME AXIS DEVELOPMENT

By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Jan 30 (Antara) - The development of the tourism industry will be integrated with the strengthening of the maritime axis concept, so that tourism will serve as the main pillar of the national economy.         "The strategy we are designing is to build seaports as a tourism axis on large islands from where tourists will be able to travel to smaller islands," Senior Planning Coordinator of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) I. Dewa Gde Sugihamretha stated on Friday.          With regard to the government's agenda to strengthen the maritime axis concept, Sugihamretha expressed confidence that the island tourism industry could thrive in the next five to ten years.          After all, the country's tourism sector is forecast to serve as the main pillar of the national economy, replacing the tax and energy sectors in the future.         The prediction is expected to come true, so that the development of integrated tourism and the maritime axis concept is supported by numerous attractive islands with their natural beauty.

PEOPLE ASKED TO AVOID CONSUMING AMERICAN APPLES

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, January 29 (Antara) - Indonesian consumers are asked to avoid consuming Granny Smith and Gala apples as the fruits which are imported from the United States are found to have been contaminated by the deadly Listeria Monocytogenes bacteria.          "Consumers must avoid eating apples of these types as they have been found to be contaminated by Listeria bacteria which is very dangerous to health," Jakarta Health Service Head Koesmedi Priharto said on Wednesday.          He said that he had not yet received any reports on significant cases where people become victims after consuming the apples. "The impact it might cause is serious. It could cause vomiting, diarrhea and nausea," said Koesmedi.          Indonesia has banned the importation of the American apples on January 26, 2015 while the United States has also stopped exporting it, yet these types of apples are still found in some markets across the country.

STATE CAPITAL PARTICIPATION STILL NEEDS FURTHER DELIBERATION

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Jan 29 (Antara) - The State Capital Participation (PMN) worth Rp48.01 trillion, which the government plans to inject into state-owned enterprises (SOEs), still needs to be further deliberated and contemplated.         "We still need time to get a comprehensive picture on the various aspects related to the PMN. We also need to deliberate it further with the finance minister and the SOE minister before endorsing its inclusion in the 2015 revised state budget,"  Fadel Muhammad, the chairman of Commission XI on financial affairs of the House of Representatives (DPR), stated after attending a hearing with the finance and SOE ministers on Wednesday night.         Earlier, the State Audit Board (BPK) had urged the House and the government to give special attention to the 35 SOEs that would receive PMN injection.         The BPK emphasized that the management of state finance by SOEs should be done in accordance with the existing regulations, especially in abiding to the regulations on financial transactions and allocations for business expansion.

GOVT LOWERS ECONOMIC GROWTH ASSUMPTION

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Jan 27 (Antara) -- The government has lowered its economic growth assumption from 5.8 percent to 5.7 percent in its revised state budget for 2015 after taking internal and external factors into consideration.          Bank Indonesia (BI), the central bank of the country, has welcomed the move, stating that Indonesian's economic growth assumption, which the House of Representatives (DPR) and the government only recently agreed to bring down to 5.7 percent, reflected the conditions of the global economic slowdown.          The government and Commission XI of the DPR agreed to lower the economic growth assumption from 5.8 percent in the state budget for 2015 to 5.7 percent in the draft of the revised state budget for the year.          "The 5.7 percent growth was decided upon after extra efforts were put in to deliberate over the budget expenditure and quantitative easing in Europe and Japan," Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro explained during a hearing with Commission XI of the DPR on Monday (January 26) night.          This change will be taken to the Budgetary Body of the parliament for further deliberation.

12-KILOGRAM LPG CUSTOMERS MAY SWITCH TO USING 3-KILOGRAM GAS

By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Jan 8 (Antara) - It is feared that consumers of unsubsidized 12-kilogram cylinders of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will switch to using the subsidized 3-kilogram LPG canisters after state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina raised the price of the former.          Pertamina raised the price of 12-kilogram canisters of gas to Rp18,000 per cylinder, or some Rp1,500 per kilogram, on January 2.          The price of gas was raised in stages in an effort to reach its economic viability after Pertamina sold it below the market price and suffered losses for long.          With the hike, the price of 12-kilogram cylinders of gas in Jakarta and its vicinity rose from Rp120,000 to Rp140,000.          Therefore, it is feared that the increase in the price of the 12-kilogram gas canisters will boost the migration of customers using them to the subsidized 3-kilogram ones, which was designed by the government for financially weak consumers.          Pertamina has laid a gradual price increase roadmap for its LPG in an effort to reach an economically viable gas price at about Rp11,944 per kilogram by mid-2016.          According to the roadmap, Pertamina planned to gradually increase the price of 12-kilogram LPG cylinders by Rp1,000 per kilogram on July 1, 2014, and by Rp1,500 per kilogram during the first and second semesters of 2015 and 2016.

RI PREDICTED TO HAVE BETTER ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN 2015

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Jan 6 (Antara) - Many have predicted that Indonesia will have better economic conditions this year as compared to last year.          The national economy in 2015 is believed to have better conditions offering business certainties that will lead to the achievement of a five-percent or higher economic growth, Head of the Permanent Committee for Food Resilience of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Fransiscus Welirang stated.         "Increasingly supportive macroeconomic conditions in 2015 will provide great business certainty and will be conducive to boost the flour industry to grow high or even higher than the national economic growth," he noted on December 30.          He noted that with the decision to reduce fuel subsidy, businesses will become better in 2015, as the economic conditions are expected to be more stable as compared to 2014.          Indonesia's economic performance is predicted to be better this year as the economy is expected to get ample fiscal room for infrastructure development. It will also be supported with domestic consumption, investment, legal certainty, and reduced subsidy.