RI, Australia fast-track cooperation to develop critical minerals,
  EV battery supply chains

  As part of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s visit to Australia for the annual leaders’ meeting with
  Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto witnessed
  the signing of the Action Plan for the implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
  between the State Government of Western Australia and the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce
  and Industry (Kadin) in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday. The signing was carried out by Kadin
  chairman Arsjad Rasjid and the Premier of Western Australia, Hon Roger Cook MLA.  

  The 2023-25 Action Plan aims to deliver near-term economic benefits for Indonesia and Western
  Australia by building value-added, resilient and sustainable battery and mineral industries in both
  countries.  

  “This is a special partnership for scaling up concrete cooperation for making sure Indonesian and
  Australian industries are world-class and at the heart of the global energy transition," said
  minister Airlangga.  

  The cooperation agreement focuses on empowering communities and people by strengthening
  industry capabilities and investing in skills in both regions, as well as accelerating efforts to meet
  ESG requirements. Jakarta and Perth plan to hold annual high-level dialogues and business
  forums to ensure investors and businesses are getting the necessary support from policymakers
  to unlock investment. 

  “The partnership between Indonesia and Western Australia can open up great opportunities in
  the critical minerals sector, considering that Western Australia has abundant mineral reserves to
  produce electric vehicle [EV] batteries. Australia will become a lithium supplier and Indonesia
  will become a nickel supplier, both of which are the main components in EV production," said
  Indonesian Ambassador to Canberra Siswo Pramono. 

  The Action Plan will also deliver a strategic analysis outlining the opportunities and challenges for
  upstream and downstream activities to benefit from growing international demand, so Indonesia
  and Western Australia can optimize their roles as major producers for supplying and
  strengthening global value chains for the green economy.  

  Indonesia is projected to become a manufacturing powerhouse (processing center) with major
  nickel reserves, an abundant skilled workforce and easy access to raw materials such as
  lithium supported by standards and expertise from Australia.  

  The 2023-25 Action Plan launch will be held in September 2023 in Jakarta as part of the first
  Annual High-Level Dialogue. Perth will host the following year's meeting. This is an important
  development as part of implementing the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic
  Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA), which entered into force on Wednesday. 

  The Action Plan details the implementation of an MoU that was signed on Feb. 21 in Perth by the
  Kadin chair Arsjad Rasjid and Deputy Premier Hon Roger Cook MLA.  

  "The Action Plan is a follow-up to the commitments made at the B20/G20 meeting last November
  2022," said Indonesia-Australia Business Council (IABC) chair George Marantika.  

  At the meeting, minister Airlangga was accompanied by Coordinating Economic Ministry
  secretary Susiwijono and deputy for international economic cooperation Edi Pambudi. The
  signing of the Action Plan was carried out as part of a program to strengthen linkages between
  the businesses of the two countries. Present were the Indonesian Ambassador in Canberra,
  Siswo Pramono; the Indonesian Consul General in Perth, Listiana Operananta; Chair of the
  Indonesia-Australia Business Council (IABC), George Iwan Marantika; as well as representatives
  of the governments of Indonesia and Australia; and Indonesian business actors who are members
  of Kadin. 

  Source: The Jakarta Post 

  Indonesia's June inflation eases to lowest in 14 months

  Indonesia's annual inflation rate in June eased to 3.52%, settling into the central bank's target
  range for a second straight month, data from the statistics bureau showed on Monday. 

  Headline inflation dropped to its lowest since April 2022 and came in below the 3.64% expected
  in a Reuters poll and below the 4.00% seen in May. 

  Inflation in Southeast Asia's largest economy has gradually eased since peaking last September
  at 6%, as BI hiked interest rates by a total of 225 basis points between August and January to
  control prices. 

  The headline rate reached the upper end of Bank Indonesia's (BI) 2% to 4% target range earlier
  than expected in May and sparked speculation that BI might soon start easing policy rates. 

  Transportation fares, food prices and rents rose in June, Pudji Ismartini, deputy head of Statistics
  Indonesia, said in a press conference. Meanwhile, prices of telecommunications and some
  financial services eased. 

  The core inflation rate, which strips out government-controlled and volatile food prices, eased to
  2.58% in June from 2.66% a month before. The poll had expected 2.64% core inflation. 

  "We expect BI to start becoming more dovish although they continue on the stability stance for
  monetary policy this year," said Trimegah Securities economist Fakhrul Fulvian, who expected
  the central bank to start easing the policy rate in August or September. 

  BI at its June policy meeting left its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive meeting
  and said it would focus on keeping the rupiah exchange rate stable amid global uncertainties. 

  Fakhrul added BI has room for a 50 bps rate this year. 

  Meanwhile, Radhika Rao of DBS forecast a rate cut late in the third quarter. 

  Source: Reuters 

  Indonesia again becomes upper-middle income country: President

  President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) stated that the World Bank has again categorized Indonesia as
  a country with upper-middle income. 
 

  "This is a rapid recovery process after we were relegated to the lower-middle income countries'
  group due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020," the president said while opening the cabinet's
  plenary session at the State Palace, Jakarta, on Monday. 

  Despite the current positive trend, the president reiterated that the country would face a
  challenging situation in the second quarter of 2023 due to the ongoing global environmental
  instability and geopolitical tensions. 

 
  "This situation affects economic growth, weakens trading activities, and we can see that our
  exports are in decline. Therefore, we should pay close attention to a number of international
  institutions' predictions on the global economic slowdown," he noted. 

 
  Furthermore, Jokowi pointed out that the movements of interest rates and global inflation are still
  stuck at a quite high level. The president also alluded to the fragmentation of global trades that
  hinders multilateral cooperation. 

 
  The head of state noted that the current global economic situation gives an early warning to
  countries to keep a close eye on the consumption and production of certain commodities. 

 
  He then encouraged the Indonesian nation to be grateful, as the country's economic growth has
  been steadily at above five percent for six consecutive quarters. 

 
  "We should be grateful that our economic growth is stuck at above five percent, a relatively high
  level, for six consecutive quarters," the president said. 

 
  The World Bank has issued a classification that groups countries into four categories based on
  their gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, which is renewed every July according to the
  latest rate of the US dollar. 

 
  Currently, based on the income from July 2023 to June 2024, countries are grouped into low
  income  (US$1,135), lower-middle income (US$1,136-4,465), upper-middle income (US$4,446-
  13,845), and high income (above US$13,845). 

  Source: AntaraNews