Economic & Business

Singapore and the European Union (EU) Friday completed the first round of negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA) held here since Monday.

Indonesia\'s insurance industry posted Rp89.4 trillion (US$97. billion) in gross premium income in 2009, an increase of 20.8 per cent form the previous year.

CITIC Pacific (SEHK:02667) looks likely to sell Shijiazhuang Iron and Steel Co. (Shi Steel) to Hebei Iron and Steel Group (HBIS), China\'s largest steel maker by output, for 1.9 billion yuan (US$278.4 million), an insider of Shi Steel told Caijing Magazine recently.

Indonesia`s excise receipts in the year ending on March 10 reached Rp12.75 trillion, accounting for 22.26 percent of the target set in the 2010 state budget.

Thirty percent of Indonesian exports to China are carried out using a tariff reduction facility provided in the Asean-China Free Trade Agreement, Deputy Trade Minister Mahendra Siregar said.

Crude palm oil and rubber are commodities Indonesia could rely on to deal with the Asean-China Free Trade Agreement, an Agriculture Ministry official said here on Friday.

The government will soon call a tender for the construction of gas pipelines according to the master plan of national gas transmission and distribution networks in the 2010-2025 period, an official said.

International rating agency Standard and Poor`s (S&P) has raised Indonesia`s long-term foreign currency rating to BB from BB- and affirmed its long-term local currency rating at BB+.

Bank Indonesia (the central bank/BI) said the government`s plan to raise basic power rates, if realized, will only have a small impact on the country`s inflation rate.

Vice President Boediono on Friday morning opened Agrinex International Exhibition 2010 at the Jakarta Convention Center.