Current affairs

The Asia DX (Digital Transformation) initiative is being promoted from the perspective that contributing to the achievement of the SDGs in ASEAN is in Japan's national interest.

Jakarta's PSBB (Large Scale Social Restrictions) to prevent the spread of corona infection in Jakarta has caused the restaurant business to deteriorate. The difference is that commercial facility-type stores have high fixed costs to the extent that they can be expected to attract customers from the mall itself, while roadside stores have all the costs of attracting customers themselves, but the fixed costs are less expensive.

In Indonesia, illegal fishing by Chinese fishing boats in the EEZ near the Natuna Islands has caused a border dispute with China. The Indonesian National Army, which defends the country, is based on the Indonesian Homeland Volunteer Force, which was founded by the Imperial Japanese Army, and became deeply involved in politics during the Sukarno regime, which played a central role in the War of Independence.

The second phase of the MRT subway construction has started in Jakarta, and with the relocation of the capital city in 2024, government facilities along the line, including the Presidential Palace, will be turned into a protected area and museum, and Jakarta may become a global tourist destination that pushes the historical charm of the city and allows visitors to experience the ongoing economic development through urban development.

To promote trade and FDI between Japan and Indonesia, direct yen and rupiah rates and trade finance easing could be used to hedge risk and improve cash flows, such as through direct rupiah-rupiah exchange rate indications and access to rupiah-denominated L/C settlements and short-term bridging loans.

Gresham's Law states that keeping high-value good products in inventory and letting go of defective ones as much as possible to protect asset value and reduce the risk of lost sales opportunities is a logical economic activity and results in the elimination of good products from the distribution process.

Japan dropped to fourth place in the ranking of FDI in Indonesia by country. The omnibus law aims to improve the investment environment in terms of jobs and permits, attract foreign direct investment, add value domestically and make the product competitive in downstream industries to get into the international supply chain.

In Indonesia, fires can occur at opportune times in places where interests are at stake, and the fire at the Supreme Prosecutor's Office is also suspected of being connected to a corruption case that has been established, particularly the destruction of investigative material related to prosecutor Pinanki, who has been detained on suspicion of bribery with Joko Chandra.

Indonesia's digital advertising market is about one-fifth the size of Japan's, as is the ratio of the two countries' GDP, and this gap is expected to narrow in the future. Currently, government ministries' budgets for influencers are increasing, but there is a danger of leading democracy in the wrong direction.

During the bubble era, the Japanese management style, which was characterized by the three sacred treasures of lifetime employment, a seniority system, and company-based unions, did not pose a problem as long working hours were commensurate with benefits, but after the bursting of the bubble, benefits were cut due to cost-cutting, leaving behind black companies that inherited only the unreasonable climate of the athletic community.

However, Indonesia is also making efforts to increase foreign direct investment by building an industrial park in Batang, Central Java, and improving the investment environment through the omnibus law.

It is a fundamental part of monetary policy for a central bank to lower interest rates during a recession to motivate capital investment, but the reason why Indonesia had high interest rates during the 1998 currency crisis was because it raised interest rates to prevent the rupiah from collapsing and was promised high interest rates by the IMF after the transition to a floating exchange rate system, in a policy of high interest rates to be linked to the dollar.

The impact of the spread of the new coronavirus epidemic has increased the poverty rate in Indonesia in March 2020, and the number of people living below the poverty line is said to be 26.42 million as of March, with the increase in the number of people living below the poverty line being attributed to the impediment to economic activity due to mobility restrictions.

The Directorate General of Immigration, Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of Indonesia had announced that foreigners who had temporarily returned to Indonesia due to the spread of the novel coronavirus would be allowed to re-enter the country even if their Temporary Residence Permit (ITAS/KITAS) had expired, as a relief measure in the event that their temporary residence permit (ITAS/KITAS) had expired while they were outside the country.

The encouragement by the government to expand sales opportunities for Indonesian products by getting domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) onto e-commerce is a home-first approach that encourages them to buy domestic value-added products and improve the circulation of money in the country, rather than drain the national wealth by buying foreign products.

The reason why Thailand's GDP of -1.8% in the first quarter of 2020 is more serious than Indonesia's plus 2.97% is because tourism revenue as a percentage of GDP is only 1.4% in Indonesia compared to Thailand's 12.5% in Thailand, and Indonesia has a lot of potential for tourism growth in the future.

What is the impact of the spread of the new coronavirus in Indonesia on the manufacturing sector compared to Vietnam, Thailand and India? In each country, the motorcycle and four-wheel industry is having a significant impact, but there are also expectations of special demand brought about by lifestyle changes in response to new lifestyles.

Indonesia's antitrust enforcement agency is the independent Business Competition Monitoring Unit, KPPU, which has very strong powers to investigate and evaluate agreements that result in monopolistic conduct or unfair business competition, conduct hearings, make final decisions and impose administrative actions.

As consumers transition to a new way of life, the business model for restaurants is shifting to focus on health protocols that don't cause customers to worry about hygiene, such as setting up open-air halls on suburban lots or specializing in delivery and drive-thru shops in the city center, rather than focusing on location and décor.

During the PSBB, there was a bicycle boom among Indonesians who recognized the need for exercise, and the Jakarta Provincial Transport Department installed a bicycle line on the leftmost lane of Sudirman Road and Thamrin Road, which is expected to increase the number of cyclists in the area tenfold in the future.