Country Profile
From The Report: Indonesia 2017
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With China and India seeing unprecedented growth over the past decade, global trade has increasingly pivoted towards Asia, putting ASEAN in a favourable position to capitalise on new regional opportunities. Official integration of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is set to have a dramatic impact on future trade growth, both within ASEAN and beyond. Indonesia’s population and economy are the largest in the AEC, creating opportunities as regional integration unfolds. Investment is expected to rise as foreign companies seek to access the domestic consumer base, while export revenues could benefit from easier access to new markets.

This chapter contains a viewpoint from President Joko Widodo; and interviews with Vice-President Yusuf Kalla; and John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Settling in: Major year of reforms in store for emerging regional power
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While the Republic of Indonesia is just over seven decades old in its current form, the South-east Asian nation of more than 17,000 islands has a much longer history under other names. The name Indonesia was first used in 1850 by British anthropologist James Richardson Logan in referring to the extensive group of islands that was known at the time as the Indian or Malay Archipelago. History Archaeological evidence indicates that the ancestors of modern humans lived on the archipelago as far…

Analysis

Single market: The ASEAN Economic Community will offer new opportunities
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With China and India seeing unprecedented growth over the past decade, global trade has increasingly pivoted towards Asia, putting ASEAN in a favourable position to capitalise on new regional opportunities. Official integration of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is set to have a dramatic impact on future trade growth, both within ASEAN and beyond. Indonesia’s population and economy are the largest in the AEC, creating opportunities as regional integration unfolds. Investment is expected to…

Viewpoint

Bold leadership: President Joko Widodo, on charting Indonesia’s path forward
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In the beginning of 2016 Indonesia experienced a pleasant surprise. Although the stock market in China had declined significantly, triggering circuit-breakers, even as the stock market in the US declined and the price of crude oil plummeted, our currency, the rupiah, was stable and our stock-market went down only slightly. Our fourth-quarter GDP growth exceeded the forecasts of all 23 forecasting institutions. The consensus forecast was 4.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth. Instead, we achieved growth of 5.03% y-o-y in the fourth quarter of 2015. What does this mean? Where are we now? What is the direction of progress in Indonesia? In August of 2015…

Interview

Opening up: OBG talks to Muhammad Jusuf Kalla, Vice-President, Republic of Indonesia
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Interview:Muhammad Jusuf Kalla What policy measures are needed to protect Indonesia from external macroeconomic shocks? MUHAMMAD JUSUF KALLA: Indonesia has historically been highly dependent on its trading partners, such as China and Europe. It is time to increase the internal strength of the economy. The domestic market should be one of the main drivers of economic growth in the country. We are now prioritising the development of the domestic market through strengthening sectors such as…

Analysis

Stronger ties: The president has been busy working on bilateral relationships
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Since his first overseas trip as president in November 2014, to the APEC summit in Beijing, President Joko Widodo has taken a proactive role in strengthening and diversifying Indonesia’s bilateral relations. As the dominant political and economic power in ASEAN, Indonesia’s participation in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will have a significant impact for the bloc. In February 2015 Widodo started his first bilateral trip to Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and the Philippines, in a sign of the…

Interview

Commercial commitment: OBG talks to John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand
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Considering their historic relationship, how can greater cooperation between New Zealand and ASEAN be encouraged? JOHN KEY: Political will is important, and New Zealand and ASEAN have a significant amount of that. Over the past 40 years our relationship has grown dramatically and we have made real progress in recent years. Most recently, to mark 40 years of diplomatic relations, New Zealand committed to investing more than $200m in the ASEAN region over the next three years. This will be focused…