Hong Kong – Megawati Sukarnoputri may well put Indonesia on the path to political stability, but even then it may not be smooth enough to tempt back emerging market investors whose sent

Joanne Collins, Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it was still aiming to release a delayed $400 million loan to Indonesia next month, erasing fears an agreement

G.K.

Robert Go, Jakarta – A new draft agreement between the International Monetary Fund and Indonesia will impose fewer conditions and targets for the country, in what is perhaps an admissio

Jakarta – Indonesian legislators have asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to write off the country's foreign debts, including those to other donors recommended by the Fund.

Robert Go, Jakarta – A long-delayed International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan tranche to Indonesia, worth around US$400 million (S$728 million), would be released next month.

John McBeth, Jakarta – Smartly dressed in a suit, tie and polished shoes, the nervous Indonesian visa applicant gave the American consular official interviewing him a strange feeling th

Sadanand Dhume, Jakarta – If the script had unfolded as planned on June 30 officials at the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, or IBRA, would have been popping champagne and posing f

Robert Go, Jakarta – While the KPPU anti-monopoly commission is concerned that mini-mart chains such as Indomaret are driving out smaller retailers, the views expressed by individual sh

Robert Go, Jakarta – Mini-marts selling everything from cold drinks and milk to bread and snacks in colourful packages are changing the way Indonesian consumers shop for their daily nee

Robert Go, Jakarta – Finance Minister Rizal Ramli advised the IMF yesterday to stop micromanaging Indonesia's economy and refrain from setting deadlines for restructuring agency Ibra's

Achmad Sukarsono, Kediri – Juniarsih has been hand-rolling tobacco for the last 17 years at a big factory run by Gudang Garam, Indonesia's largest cigarette maker, but with little hope

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Board or alight wherever and whenever they like. In the middle of the road, or, if there's no room, at the roadside.

Jakarta – The IMF said on Tuesday it would resume a vital $5 billion loan programme with Indonesia if the government agreed to delay a debate on controversial central bank law revisions

Gde Anugrah Arka, Jakarta – Indonesia's floundering president has sacked the widely respected head of the bank restructuring agency (IBRA), in yet another shakeup at one of the troubled

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Eddie, a former waterside thug, is not too worried about a local council's recently declared intention of clearing the city of illegal businesses such as his

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia would gain an additional 60 trillion rupiah (S$10.8 billion) a year if citizens paid their proper taxes, according to an aide to new Finance Minister Riza

Robert Go, Jakarta – It is getting harder to hide the extent of one's wealth in Indonesia these days.

Joanne Collins, Jakarta – The IMF said on Wednesday it was optimistic Indonesia's willingness to revise controversial central bank law amendments would end a six-month deadlock on a vit

G. K. Goh, Jakarta – Fears of social unrest in Indonesia continued to chip away at consumer confidence in May, state brokerage Danareksa said its latest survey showed on Wednesday.

Canberra – Economic prospects for East Timor remained low in the medium term, the World Bank said ahead of a two-day meeting of donors to the emerging nation that began in Canberra on T

Joanne Collins, Jakarta – The IMF on Wednesday urged Indonesia's new economic team to forge ahead with the revised 2001 budget, saying it was an important precursor to mending frayed re

Aloysius Bhui, Jakarta – The revised budget currently being debated in parliament designed to contain the fiscal deficit to 3.8 per cent of GDP should be enough to satisfy the Internati

Robert Go, Jakarta – The economic crisis, as much as fashion, is responsible for the current fad among Indonesians for wearing body-hugging, belly-button-baring clothes.

Robert Go, Jakarta – For cabby Sutardjo, the petrol-price increase scheduled for this coming Friday could erode his daily take-home earnings of around 40,000 rupiah (S$6.80) by as much

Jakarta – Indonesia's Parliament wants stiffer cuts in petrol subsidies and price hikes more drastic than the 30 per cent jump already slated by the government – a development that coul

Jakarta – Jakarta stocks edged higher on Thursday, but the market was under pressure from rumours, later denied, that politically isolated President Abdurrahman Wahid would sack the arm

Jakarta – Indonesia needs around US$28.45 billion in new investment over the next 10 years to stave off a power crisis which has begun to hit some parts of the country.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Frustrated with the lack of recovery and stability at home, many Indonesian businessmen are scouting for opportunities and investing abroad just when the country ne

Robert Go, Batam – Foreign investors yesterday signalled to the Indonesian government that they wanted a more concrete reform process in place before they could become confident about i

Robert Go, Jakarta – Iced coconut juice seller Budiman, 43, set down his 30-kg gear wearily and fanned himself with a folded tabloid newspaper that occasionally also serves as his sun-s

Jakarta – The World Bank has expressed its full support of the government's fiscal adjustment package, which contains various measures to prevent the 2001 state budget deficit from grow

Pip Hinman – The International Monetary Fund is tightening the screws on President Abdurrahman Wahid to deliver on austerity measures in return for its US$5 billion bailout package.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – As Abdurrahman Wahid prepares to face a second parliamentary censure of his presidency on Monday, concern is growing in Jakarta that Indonesia's economic reco

Robert Go, Jakarta – An IMF review team slipped out of Jakarta late Tuesday night without resolving its stalled US$5-billion bailout programme here, signalling the agency's lack of conf

Jakarta – Up to US$300 million of mining investments in Indonesia are caught in legal limbo because of a new ban on mining in protected forests, said the Indonesian Mining Association (

Jakarta – Indonesia received a symbolic boost of confidence from donor countries yesterday, but was told in clear terms that further funds will be tied to definitive progress on several

Jakarta – Indonesia on Monday outlined five key steps to keep its budget deficit at the forecast 3.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2001 amid fears of an uncontrollable blowout.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday advised foreign businesses to start dealing directly with local administrations, in the clearest admissio

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia and the International Monetary Fund broke an impasse over the country's swelling budget deficit problem yesterday, but the obvious solution proposed by th

Jakarta – East Timor's economy has rebounded strongly after violence destroyed the tiny half-island territory nearly two years ago, with 15 percent growth forecast for 2001 and 2002, th

Farida Husna, Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund told the Indonesian parliament Wednesday that a new letter of intent will only be signed after the current state budget is revise

Jakarta – The World Bank canceled the second US$300 million tranche of its $600 million social safety net adjustment loan on request from the Indonesian government, a Cabinet minister r

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked the government to shelve several large projects this year in a bid to rescue the troubled state budget, according to a source.

Jakarta – Indonesian officials fear the government might not meet its 6.5 trillion rupiah privatisation target this year amid weak markets.

Jakarta – Black market activities over the past three years have contributed to the worsening of the economic crisis, former manpower minister Bomer Pasaribu said.

Jakarta – Indonesia is unlikely to reach its targeted 4.5 percent to 5 percent economic growth rate in 2001 on account of lower-than-expected economic activity and investment, deputy go

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) director for the Asia-Pacific, Anoop Singh, is optimistic that the Fund's meeting with the Indonesian government to discuss the Letter

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's Parliament and government are close to splitting control of the Central Bank and unravelling the bank's politically independent status, a move that is s

Robert Go, Jakarta – The Indonesian government will step up tax-collection efforts, including the targeting of foreigners now living in the country, to boost revenues and control a moun