Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah said Monday the central bank is optimistic the economy will grow by more than 6 percent this year due to a robust lending growth.

"Apart from that, with the state budget realization rate expected to improve in the thirdand fourth quarters, economic growth is likely to exceed the figure," Burhanuddin said following a meeting of the bank's board of governors on Monday.

The meeting agreed that the economy would perform better in the second semester, he said.

The economy in the two previous quarters was on the right track and it would continue to expand during the rest of the year, he said.

He believed full-year inflation rates would hit the central bank's inflation target of 6, plus orminus 1, percent for 2007 and of 5, plus or minus1, percent for 2008.

_____
jakarta post

Labels: Bank, Indonesia, Internet News, Market, Money

Read more...

PT Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi Tbk. plans to issue bonds worth US$400 million to purchase five ships this year. Earlier, this company that runs a sea transportation business planned to obtain a banking loan to fund its expansion.

Agus Darjanto, President Director of Humpuss Intermoda, said that based on analysis the company has carried out, it had been decided not to obtain a banking loan.

“If we borrow from banks, there is little ‘room to move,’ despite us needing a large amount,” he said after holding a press conference following Annual and Extraordinary General Meetings of Shareholders in Jakarta yesterday (13/6).

Agus said the bonds that will be issued comprise of senior debt amounting to US$350 million with eight year period and junior debt of US$50 million with five year period.

The funds will be the sources of the company's expenditure up until to 2010.

He went on to say that after purchasing the new ships, the company plans to continue securing the company's assets in order to look for new loans.

The funds, said Agus, will be used for refinancing all the company's debts, including bond obligations.
Humpuss has allocated US$159.6 million (around Rp1.4 trillion) to purchase five new ships.

According to Agus, the five ships consist of Panamax ships and chemical tank ships.

As regards Panamax, those we are aiming at are that like the ships of Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and Korea,” he said.
In terms of chemical tank ships, the targets are 13,000 dead weight tons (DWT) ships.

The purpose is to meet the international market segment.

Earlier, Sapto Basuki, Humpuss Intermoda's Corporate Secretary, said that some of the funds for purchasing will be gained from the sales of two oil tank ships whose contract terms have ended and are worth US$36 million (Rp316 billion).

_____
source

Labels: Bank, Internet News, Money

Read more...

Indonesian domestic product industries are losing the competition against China's imported goods in the domestic market.

The goods from China which enter Indonesia are export remainders.

Cyrillus Harinowo, BCA's Independent Commissioner, said most of China's goods in Indonesia are export goods remainders.

“So the prices are much cheaper,” he said during the “Dragons at Your Door: China's Position in the World Trade Course and How Indonesian Entrepreneurs Response China's Excellence” discussion yesterday (21/5).

Almost all of Chinese exports to Indonesia are export product remainders sold at a very low price.

It is estimated that Chinese products that enter Indonesia amount to 10 percent of China's total exports.

Cyrillus asked that domestic producers make goods which can compete with China-made products.

This is because tariff and non-tariff impediments for restraining the export goods remainders are also not effective.

“It's difficult to face such goods,” said Cyrillus.
Imposing a 100 percent import duty, he said, would not influence the abundance of Chinese products.

The reason for this is that Chinese products will still be cheaper than the normal prices on the international market.

Cyrillus suggested that producers group together to produce medium quality products in order to face the invasion of Chinese products.

This is because Indonesia can export more natural resources products especially energy source and agriculture products that China does not have.

The University of Indonesia's Chinese Study Center Head, Ignasius Wibowo, said that productivity of workers in China is very high, so China can produce cheap products.

“No bureaucracy impediments and production costs are much cheaper. China has managed to build industrial centers,” he said.

_____
source

Labels: Bank, Indonesia, Internet News, Market

Read more...

The police have frozen nine bank accounts that belong to PT Wahana Bersama Globalindo, which is suspected of having embezzled its customers' funds.

According to Adjunct Chief Commissioner Tornagogo Sihombing, Head of the Jakarta Regional Police’s State Security Unit, most of the bank accounts' balances were nearly zero.

There were accounts with some funds, he said, but at most the balances were Rp1 million.

“We have already frozen nine accounts, including those in Citibank, BII, Bank Mandiri and BCA,” said Tornagogo yesterday (9/5).

Tornagogo went on to say that freezing the accounts was aimed at securing the assets of company which was suspected of having embezzled customers' funds totaling at least Rp1.4 trillion.

The police have also frozen other assets such as land, buildings and vehicles.

However, Tornagogo acknowledged he could not yet estimate the total value of the frozen assets.

He explained that the company which had been operating for 10 years started to become unsteady when customers in Surabaya withdrew their money in large amounts

“Then this affected other branches,” he said.

According to Tornagogo, the police are also investigating whether or not there were any misconducts in the customers' funds management because the funds collected in one city should have been transferred directly to Dressel.

“But lately funds have been transferred to Wahana first, not directly to Dressel,” said Tornagogo.
__________
tempo

Labels: Bank, Internet News, Money

Read more...

It is possible that the Bank Indonesia's interest standard (BI Rate) will decrease due to deflation (goods and service's price decreases) last April.

It is estimated that by the end of the year, the BI Rate could reach 8.5 percent.

“The room for a BI Rate decrease is larger,” said Burhanuddin Abdullah, Bank Indonesia (BI Governor) in Jakarta yesterday (2/5).

Deflation, he said, also enlarged the possibility of reaching the inflation target of six percent plusor minus one percent.

“The possibility to reach the inflation target is larger,” he said.

On Tuesday (1/5) the Central Statistic Bureau (BPS) announced there was 0.16 deflation, better compared to in March which underwent inflation of 0.24 percent.

Of 45 cities surveyed by BPS, 30 cities or 66 percent underwent goods and service's price decreases, while the remainders underwent inflation.

The deflation was due to the decrease of prices shown by the decreasing index of food category (11.30 percent) and leisure and sports education (0.03 percent).

The causes of deflation include the drastic decrease of rice and red chili prices as also other vegetables.

In the State Budget 2007, the government targets annual inflation to be 6.5 percent while BI's target is six percent plus-minus one percent.

Currently, the BI Rate is at the level of nine percent.
During the meeting of Governors Board in early April, the central bank did not lower the interest standard as there was a threat of inflation.

Boediono, Coordinating Minister for the Economy, stressed that the deflation in April was extreme.y good agreeable because it strengthened the government's optimism in maintaining economic stability.

Therefore, the government will maintain the low inflation rate maximally in the following months.

__________
tempo

Labels: Bank, Internet News, Money

Read more...