1. SBA News
The SBA Networking cocktail (every 2nd Wednesday every month) will be at Club Macanudo in Shangri-La Hotel, from 19.00 to 21.00 on Wednesday January 13 and we offer free flow of drinks (wine, beer, whiskey, soft drink). The self cost is IDR 150,000 per person. No prior registration needed, just come.
Also remember Danish Business Association's annual X-mas lunch on January 15th 2010 at Hotel Borobudur. Contact Jakob Sörensen for more information at Jakob.Friis.Sorensen@maersk.com .
2. Embassy News
Indonesia-Sweden Telecom and IT Event in Jakarta on 14-16 December 2009
The Embassy of Sweden and the Swedish Trade Council organized an Indonesia-Sweden Telecom and IT Event in Jakarta on 14-16 December 2009, bringing a delegation of Swedish telecom and IT experts as well as 12 Swedish companies of the sector to Indonesia.
The program consisted of a high level seminar as well as customized knowledge sharing sessions with Indonesian Authority of telecom & IT sector, with the participation of the main telecom operators and mobile content providers.
The Swedish delegation was headed by Mr. Ulf Berg, President and CEO of Swedish Trade Council in Stockholm, and Ms Charlotte Rylme, Head of Swedish Trade Council ASEAN and Trade Commissioner based in Kuala Lumpur. The key Swedish experts included Ms Marianne Treschow, Director General of Swedish Post and Telecom Agency, and Mr. Tomas Bennich, Founder of Swedish Mobile Association and Kista Mobile Showcase.
3. European News
The EC delegation has geared up for the year with Market Access meetings on several subjects. The problems with BPOM for food, alcohol, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry are of course highest up on the agenda, but there are also several other non tariff barriers coming in force during the 2010. It is highly anticipated that there will be several issues on mainly import of European goods and the EC delegation together with EuroCham is determined to tackle these problems early.
4. Security
The Christmas has passed and we have not seen any larger problems on the security front. We have had over 20 demonstrations during December in Jakarta, but none have gone out of control. The tension over the political scandals as well as injustice in the legal system has not spiraled in to anything even though it continues. Also the fact that the rainy season is over us has of course already started to downsize several demonstrations. The new year will not be much different, we will see continued demonstrations and political bickering over the current scandals. It is not impossible that we will see a reshuffle of the police, with attempts to move the attention elsewhere. This might mean some violent demonstrations, but these should be short lived and easy to contain.
The recent incident with a Nigerian smuggling a bomb on to a US flight will set its tracks on the air security for a few months. It is obvious that most airport security will go berserk and make all our lives difficult, but they will of course insist it is for a good cause. I doubt we will see any terrorist incidents on any Indonesian airplanes, despite the many times relaxed security. There are increased security around the government in general and the president in particular. Several conspiracy theories are floating around and as it has been said, just because one is paranoid, it doesn't mean they are not after you...
The start of the year will most probably be filled of weather problems rather than any other security issues. We will see flooding in Jakarta and landslides in Java. Caution as usual with the traffic. Otherwise a calm and secure January is expected, with some added security measures on airports and political buildings around the country.....
5. Economy
The currency has weakened a bit again and the end of the year show us a direction towards 9,500 rather than 9,000. It is reasonable to expect that the current political turmoil will weaken the Rupiah, which is in a sense not that bad for the Indonesian economy. A turn in the global economy during 2010 will further weaken the Indonesian currency, since Indonesia will stay rather than move forward. The currency will weaken towards most currencies during January and follow the dollar downwards. Nothing dramatic, but if the scandals hits the economic team of the government, we might see a drop in the currency as well as the stock market.
The Indonesian economy is currently very strong and there are not much that can move it, but the currency is very much depending on the rest of the world and the increased difficulties for foreign investors create a flow out of money, which with a hit against the economic policies would make this flow stronger.
We might get some breakthroughs on the infrastructure side, which might give a boost for the economy as well as the perception of the economy. Several very large projects are very close to go through so 2010 might be a year where we can see a turn on the infrastructure investments in Indonesia. This would be the boost Indonesia might need to turn the economy and the public opinion on a more open economy. The year 2010 is going t
(back to list)
