Tag: Investment consulting

Although not yet built an assembly factory in Indonesia, Apple apparently has reached an investment of IDR 1.6 trillion to provide the Apple Developer Academy. Noted, currently the Apple Developer Academy which has been operating there are four spreads across Tangerang, Batam and Surabaya. Meanwhile, the arrival of Apple Tim Cook CEO to Indonesia to inaugurate the 4th Apple Developer Academy which is located in Bali.

“The investment value is IDR 1.2 trillion for three academies. If you add another one in Bali, it will be IDR 1.6 trillion,” said Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi in Jakarta, Wednesday (17/4/2024).

Apple Developer Academy is a program that was developed directly by Apple. This is to improve the skills for those who are interested in the world of coding and digital in a professional manner. Meanwhile, the first Apple Developer Academy was opened in Brazil, this HR talent development program has developed to more locations worldwide, including Korea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Italy, and the United States.

For information, Tim Cook has met with President Joko Widodo at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, today. In the meeting that lasted for one hour, improving the quality of human resources was considered important, especially in the current digital era.

“So, this increase in human resources is also important for us, for our nation,” he said.

Unfortunately, Apple has not revealed the schedule for the opening of the academy in Bali. But it is certain that the Bali campus will receive registration not only from Indonesia, but from all over the world, regardless of the educational background or programming experience.

This technology giant from Cupertino has opened an academy in Surabaya and Batam. Apple Developer Academy which was attended by more than 2,000 prospective developers. As many as 90% of graduates have gotten jobs in various sectors ranging from education, e-commerce, transportation, sustainability, and more.

The nine-month program from this academy includes the basics of programming, as well as other topics such as project design, marketing, and management, which will equip participants with a series of capabilities needed to become entrepreneurs and world-class developers.

Apple Developer Academy in Indonesia receives participants from various personal and professional backgrounds. They come from more than 90 cities throughout Indonesia, with an age range between 18 to 50 years, each of which brought new ideas and involved their life experiences in designing applications and making business plans.

April 17, 2024, detikInet

(https://inet.detik.com/cyberlife/d-7296329/nilai-investasi-apple-di-indonesia-tembus-rp-1-6-triliun)

Central banks and finance ministries in ASEAN countries have agreed to continue the three priority agendas of Indonesia’s previous Chairmanship in ASEAN 2023. This agreement emerged at the ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting (AFMGM). The 11th AFMGM in Luang Prabang, Laos from April 2 to 5 is an important forum for high-level dialogue on cooperation between central banks and finance ministries in the region, in order to strengthen solidarity between ASEAN countries on the path to financial integration. The Bank of Lao PDR (BOL) and Lao PDR Ministry of Finance are the organizers of this meeting.

Representatives from 10 ASEAN member countries were present, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The Indonesian delegation was led by the Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia, Filianingsih Hendarta. Timor Leste was also present as an observer.

According to the Head of the Communications Department of Bank Indonesia (BI), Erwin Haryono, Sunday (7/4/2024), the three agendas initiated by Indonesia in ASEAN in 2023 are continuing, namely:

1. Expansion of regional payment connectivity cooperation or Regional Payment Connectivity (RPC). The RPC initiated by Bank Indonesia to facilitate smooth and safe cross-border payments continues to develop under the 2024 ASEAN Laos Chairmanship. This is indicated by the continued increase in countries interested in joining regional payment connectivity cooperation. On April 3, 2024, the MoU signing of the RPC was carried out which marked the joining of Laos as the 8th country to become a member of the RPC cooperation. Currently, the countries that have joined the RPC collaboration are Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Laos.

2. Use of local currency in cross-border transactions in ASEAN or ASEAN Local Currency Transaction (LCT). In the series of 11th AFMGM meetings, the ASEAN LCT framework, the formulation of which was initiated by Bank Indonesia, succeeded in getting full support from ASEAN countries. This is expected to encourage increased use of local currency in cross-border payment transactions so that it can be beneficial for business actors to reduce trade transaction costs, encourage financial market deepening in local currency, and reduce exposure to exchange rate risk.

3. Indonesia’s efforts to improve the mandate of the ASEAN Working Committee. This initiative aims to make the ASEAN working committee more relevant to developing economic conditions, encourage innovation, increase adaptability, strengthen regional cooperation, and achieve integration and financial stability.

At the 11th AFMGM, Ministers and the Governor of the Central Bank approved the High Level Guidelines and Terms of Reference for Adjusting the Mandate of the ASEAN Working Committee. Currently two working committees have completed adjustments to their mandate, namely the working committee that handles the development of the payment system (Working Committee-Payment and Settlement System/WC-PSS) and the development of capital account liberalization (Working Committee-Capital Account Liberalization/WC-CAL). Furthermore, other working committees related to strengthening financial inclusion, financial market development, trade liberalization and banking integration have started and will continue the process of refining their mandates.

April 7, 2024, detikFinance

(https://finance.detik.com/moneter/d-7283925/bi-dan-bank-sentral-se-asean-dorong-transaksi-mata-uang-lokal-lintas-kawasan)

Brunei based infrastructure company Brunergy Utama announced plans to build the first high-speed train on Kalimantan Island. This more than 1,600 km long project will connect Brunei with its two neighboring countries, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Reporting from Nikkei Asia, Tuesday (2/4/2024), the company which originally operated in the oil and gas sector launched the project at the end of last week. The Trans-Borneo Railway project will stretch 1,620 kilometers from the west to the east side of Kalimantan, crossing three Southeast Asian countries.

According to the announcement, the first phase will connect Pontianak, the capital of Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, with Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, the capitals of the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah, then on to Brunei’s Tutong district, as well as the island’s west and north coast. .

Next, the second stage will run south and connect Tutong with the provinces of North Kalimantan and East Kalimantan in Indonesia. In this case, including the cities of Samarinda and Balikpapan.

“And it will become the capital of Indonesia in the future, Nusantara (IKN),” said the company.

There will be four terminals serving as the main hubs of the high-speed rail network along with a total of 24 stations, and the bullet trains are planned to travel at speeds of up to 350 kilometers per hour, according to the proposal. This project is reportedly estimated to cost US$ 70 billion or the equivalent of IDR 1.113 trillion (exchange rate IDR 15.900). However, the prospects for this project, including the participation of Malaysia and Indonesia in it, are still unclear.

Sabah State Chief Minister Hajiji Noor praised the proposed mega railway project, saying it would be an economic catalyst for the Kalimantan region. According to him, if this project is realized, it will facilitate trade, encourage industrial growth in border areas, increase tourism in the Kalimantan region, and increase connectivity between communities.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Public Works Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi said last November that his ministry had received an initial proposal regarding the project. He said the federal government had approved a special financial allocation to carry out a feasibility study on routes in Sabah and Sarawak. This is based on the Free Malaysia Today report.

However, Sarawak Prime Minister Abang Johari Openg said that the Sarawak state government had not been officially approached by the Brunei-based company to start the project.

Nikkei Asia confirmed to local government officials in North Kalimantan that several discussions had been held regarding the project with Brunei, but Indonesia had not yet committed to anything. Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Adita Irawati also said the same thing.

“There has been no follow-up regarding this issue, especially involving the ministry,” said Adita.

Regarding this, Brunei’s Minister of Communication and Transport Shamhary Mustapha emphasized that this proposal had not been officially discussed at the government level, including with the Government of the Republic of Indonesia.

April 2, 2024, detikFinance

(https://finance.detik.com/infrastruktur/d-7273522/perusahaan-brunei-bakal-bangun-kereta-kecepatan-tinggi-tembus-ke-ikn)

The Ministry of Industry targets the gross domestic product (GDP) of the manufacturing industry in 2024 to grow 5.8%, higher than the 2023 projection of 4.81%. On the other hand, safeguardglobal.com noted that last year, Indonesia was included in the top 10 contributors to world manufacturing products and was the only ASEAN country. Based on this publication, Indonesia contributes 1.4% to global manufactured products. This prestigious position is a significant increase, because four years ago, Indonesia was still in 16th position.
The increase in ranking also indicates that the manufacturing sector has a multiplier effect on other sectors. As an illustration, with increasing industrial output, the transportation sector will also increase, as will the energy, agricultural, plantation and maritime sectors which are sources of raw materials and production input factors for the manufacturing sector.
Indonesia’s position in the ranks of world manufacturing is strengthened by the value of industrial output which continues to increase in the period 2020 to September 2023. In 2020, the value of industrial output was recorded at US$ 210.4 billion, then increased to US$ 228.32 billion in 2021, and increased again amounting to US$ 241.87 billion in 2022. Meanwhile, until September 2023, the value of industrial output has reached around US$ 192.54 billion.
Responding to this, Economist from the Institute for Economic and Community Research, Faculty of Economics and Business (LPEM FEB) University of Indonesia, Kiki Verico, said that the manufacturing sector continues to show positive performance in its contribution to the Indonesian economy. It is hoped that this positive performance will become the main capital to attract more foreign investment with an export orientation.
“Indonesia currently cannot be called deindustrialized. Deindustrialization is experienced by countries that have reached the stage of advanced manufacturing or advanced manufacturing, then declined (sunset) and started to be replaced by other countries whose manufacturing was just taking off (sunrise). The advanced industrial countries then shifted their backbone. “the economy is moving from the manufacturing industry to the service sector,” explained Kiki, written Friday (29/3/2024).
Kiki also said that collaboration between ministries was needed to strengthen the manufacturing sector which in the future could increase Indonesia’s exports and make a bigger contribution to the national economy.
Throughout 2023, the manufacturing industry recorded impressive performance and contributed to the growth of national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This can be seen from Bank Indonesia’s Prompt Manufacturing Index (PMI) in the fourth quarter of 2023 which reached 51.2% or is still in the expansion zone. This figure is in line with data released by S&P Global which shows the manufacturing sector has been at an expansion level above level 50 for 30 consecutive months. Only two countries were able to record this achievement, namely Indonesia and India. Manufacturing is still the number one contribution to GDP in Indonesia, namely 19% in 2023. In terms of labor absorption, the manufacturing sector also still contributes 16% of the total in Indonesia.
The manufacturing sector is also the highest tax contributor in Indonesia. “This means that manufacturing is very significant for the Indonesian economy, because the added value is the greatest, labor absorption is also the largest, formal activities that provide a fixed salary are also the largest, so tax revenues are also the largest from manufacturing,” he explained.

March 29, 2024, detikFinance
(https://finance.detik.com/industri/d-7267740/kinerja-manufaktur-ri-tumbuh-positif-begini-datanya)

The sustainability of the Indonesian Capital City (IKN) project was a big question before the 2024 presidential general election. However, the election of the candidate pair (paslon) Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka made the project provide certainty for IKN. It is hoped that this certainty will attract more interest from foreign investors, including from China. As is known, in the campaign and debate, Prabowo-Gibran expressed their intentions and plans to continue the IKN project initiated by President Joko Widodo.
Several countries have expressed interest in participating in the construction of a new capital city that represents the future of Indonesia’s central government. Among them are two neighboring countries, Malaysia and Singapore, and there are two large countries, namely China and the United States, which have also expressed their interest in participating in the development of IKN. The two countries’ commitment to investing is increasingly serious. Representatives from these countries are actively involved in meetings with local officials to further strengthen their commitment to investing in IKN.
Quoted from the South China Morning Post, China is positioning itself to become one of the largest foreign investors in IKN, Indonesia’s new capital city plan which will be built from scratch over the next 20 years amidst forests and palm tree plantations. This investment is expected to become a prominent feature in efforts to build smart cities and other important urban zones in other countries.
These projects will in turn help China connect with friendly countries to facilitate trade, thereby giving Chinese construction companies the opportunity to prove themselves abroad.
Beijing based state-owned construction company Citic Construction, has expressed interest in developing 60 residential towers in IKN, which would replace flood-prone Jakarta as the country’s capital. The move was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but government offices may be relocated this year as officials seek to reduce the burden on Jakarta.
China will continue to invest in Indonesia, including IKN, as the goal of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Beijing’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has given birth to Chinese-funded infrastructure projects in many countries, including ports, highways and power plants. Smart city construction, a term that usually refers to technology-aided management of traffic and urban resources, advances China’s goal of increasing “connectivity”, especially in countries near its borders such as those in Southeast Asia.
A number of Chinese analysts and economists are optimistic that China will enter the IKN project. This step was taken to expand China’s portfolio in Asian countries. China has also been heavily involved in building new cities in Asian countries so building IKN will be the next goal. Xu Tianchen, senior economist with the Economist Intelligence Unit, said Chinese construction companies are eager to prove themselves overseas. IKN is an interesting project.
“It can be said that China has a squad of technical and building experts that has developed rapidly since the 2000s. China also has an experienced team in providing development solutions from financing to maintenance.” Xu said, quoted from the South China Morning Post.
“Chinese construction companies are now very competitive in terms of skill capacity,” said Zha Daojiong, professor of international relations at Peking University.
Zhao Xijun, a finance professor from Renmin University in Beijing, explained that for China, Indonesia is the biggest partner in Southeast Asia. China and Indonesia have also collaborated a lot, from building high-speed trains to toll roads. According to him, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train is an example of China’s success that could be a model. However, he warned that China’s economic slowdown could become an obstacle to Chinese investment in IKN.

March 26, 2024, CNBC Indonesia
(https://www.cnbcindonesia.com/research/20240326113107-128-525483/analis-china-yakin-xi-jinping-serius-investasi-di-ikn)

The Indonesian Embassy in Hanoi together with the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Khanh Hoa Provincial Government held a Meet Indonesia event. This is a meeting place for governments and business people between Indonesia and Vietnam to explore various opportunities for cooperation. Apart from sharing information on strategic sector development, the event also brought together business partnerships in agriculture, fisheries, tourism, digital economy, energy transition and cutting-edge industrial sectors.
Indonesia and Vietnam plan to strengthen strategic sector economic partnerships through mastering the latest technology. This was the main discussion in the bilateral meeting between Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam Nguyen Minh Hang and Deputy Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Edi Prio Pambudi in the middle of the event held in Nha Trang, Coastal City of Khanh Noa Province.
Nguyen Min Hang said that the opportunity for strategic sector economic partnerships came at the right moment ahead of the celebration of 70 years of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Vietnam which has a strong foundation of friendship.
“I want a dialogue at the Deputy Minister level to discuss various important economic partnership issues,” said Nguyen in an official statement from the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, Sunday (24/3/2024).
As a fellow country that is developing rapidly and a member of ASEAN, Nguyen Min Hang assesses that there are many similarities in Vietnam’s efforts with Indonesia which need to be collaborated to take advantage of opportunities from the current world dynamics, including mastery of technology in various sectors. Nguyen also congratulated Indonesia on Indonesia’s success in holding elections and the start of discussions on Indonesia’s accession to the OECD. As a member of the G20 and ASEAN, Nguyen believes that Indonesia is a strategic partner for Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Edi Prio also welcomed Vietnam’s proposal to strengthen strategic sector economic partnerships. He said that Indonesia was interested in investment progress in Vietnam’s rapidly developing advanced industrial sectors, such as electric cars, semiconductors, telecommunications and digital technology, in addition to agricultural and fisheries technology.
For this reason, it is important for Indonesia to partner through research and development (R&D), exchange of job opportunities and training for digital and engineering talents and make it easier for each other to open the door to investment.
“For a long time, we have wanted to form a strategic economic partnership forum with Vietnam,” said Edi.
Edi has submitted the concept of a partnership agreement through diplomatic channels and hopes it can be agreed soon. This agreement will later become an umbrella to accommodate strategic economic cooperation with concrete output, especially benefits for engineers and digital talents to jointly master advanced technology.
Indonesia and Vietnam have partnered in several forums other than ASEAN, such as IPEF and RCEP, which need to strengthen economic integration in ASEAN. Edi also asked for Vietnam’s help as a member of the Great Mekong Sub-region (GMS), which is a forum for ASEAN sub-regional cooperation in the continental ASEAN region, to communicate with other GMS partners.

March 24, 2024, detikFinance
(https://finance.detik.com/industri/d-7258820/ri-bidik-kerja-sama-litbang-teknologi-mobil-listrik-semikonduktor-ke-vietnam)

Economists say that the victory of Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka in one round of the 2024 Presidential Election has provided certainty to investors. As a result, investment flows from abroad are expected to return to Indonesia soon.
Staff for Economics, Industry and Global Markets from Bank Maybank Indonesia, Myrdal Gunarto, said that certainty regarding who will be elected in the presidential election has provided certainty to investors. He predicts that the flow of foreign capital in the form of Foreign Direct Investment will come soon.
“In terms of FDI, it seems that with this certainty, global-based companies really have a need to come immediately,” he said, quoted Friday, (22/3/2024).
Myrdal said the results of the legislative election contributed to the market’s positive response to Prabowo-Gibran’s victory. The results of the legislative elections, he said, show that the party supporting candidate number 2 will become the majority in parliament. “This causes euphoria from global investors,” he said.
Myrdal believes that with this sentiment, combined with Indonesia’s solid economic conditions and controlled socio-political conditions, global investors will soon enter Indonesia. However, the return of foreign funds to the Indonesian portfolio market is still very much influenced by the future attitude of the United States central bank, The Fed.
He predicts that the sectors that will be targeted by Foreign Direct Investment will be the sectors that are part of Prabowo-Gibran’s work program. These include the mining, agriculture and communications technology sectors, as well as green energy.
“The hope is that the election results that have been officially announced, and Prabowo-Gibran will support the continuity of the Jokowi government,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bank Mandiri Chief Economist Andry Asmoro said that his party had not calculated the detailed impact of the election results on the flow of foreign capital to Indonesia. However, according to him, the Fed’s decision will greatly determine the entry of foreign capital into the Indonesian market.
“We haven’t calculated the inflow projections in detail, but it should be that outside of the election there is a cut in the Fed’s benchmark interest rate, this will encourage inflows to emerging markets, including Indonesia,” he said.

March 22, 2024, CNBC Indonesia
(https://www.cnbcindonesia.com/news/20240322094214-4-524368/prabowo-gibran-pemenang-pilpres-investasi-ri-diprediksi-moncer-lagi)