How will Indonesia deal with escalating China woes?

Exports and currency stability is at risk.

China's economic convulsions will have an indirect but big effect on Indonesia's exports and currency stability, according to a report from OCBC.

OCBC said that given China's role as a big buyer of commodities, its growth prospects will immediately affect prices of commodities, which form a huge chunk of Indonesia's economy.

"Even though the long decline in both the prices and volumes of commodities have shrunk their share in Indonesia’s total exports, the proportion is still significant at around 25%. In turn, any further slump in the commodity market, courtesy of fears about China, will put Indonesia in a tough spot," said OCBC.

To counter China's slowdown, Bank of Indonesia (BI) might decide to cut rates, OCBC said.

"With an eye on China, the debate on whether Bank Indonesia will cut rate this Thursday is raging. We think that it will, even if we have to slap on the big fat caveat that it is contingent on calmness in currency market. Whatever the decision is, BI would want to be as clear in its communication as possible," OCBC noted.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia