RI ‘the most confident country’ in facing crisis

The Jakarta Post ,  JAKARTA   |  Fri, 04/24/2009 11:09 AM  |  Business

Indonesia boasts the highest consumer confidence index in the world, a survey by the Nielsen Company shows, effectively brushing off any threat to economic activities here from the global economic crisis.

The survey, revealed Thursday, showed Indonesia topped Nielsen’s global consumer confidence index with 104 points, followed by Denmark (102 points) and India (99 points).

The lowest score goes to Korea and Portugal, with 31 and 48 index points, respectively.

“Indonesia is the most confident country in facing the global crisis,” the Nielsen executive director of customer research, Catherine Eddy, said during the announcement of the survey.

The latest biannual Nielsen Consumer Confidence survey, conducted between March 19 and April 2 and involving interviews with 25,140 regular Internet respondents from 50 countries, showed that global consumer confidence had plummeted to a new record low in the past six months.

The index fell 7 points, down from 84 to 77, according to the latest survey.

“We interviewed Internet users, whom most of whom are well-educated and have middle- to upper-income jobs,” Eddy said.

“We found most Indonesian respondents were highly optimistic in facing the crisis.”

She added 86 percent of 533 Indonesian respondents were very optimistic with local job prospects within the next 12 months, while only 9 percent felt uncertain with their job security.

“Indonesians also perceive they can keep buying the things they want and need, even during the global crisis,” Eddy said.

“Indonesians are also confident with their personal finances in the years ahead.”

The survey revealed 70 percent of Indonesians were optimistic with regard to financial stability.

Despite the optimism, the survey also showed that Indonesians tended to save their money rather than spend it during the crisis.

“Our survey discovered 67 percent of Indonesian respondents put their cash into savings,” Eddy pointed out.

She added the respondents were not holding back entirely from spending.

They also still spent their money for good bargains.

“They like to spend their money for certain materials, which would benefit some companies during the economic crisis,” she said.

The survey showed 29 percent of Indonesians liked to spend their money on new technology products, while 25 percent spent money on holidays

Twenty percent spent money on outdoor entertainment, 17 percent on house redecorating, and 44 percent on investment in shares or stocks.

“Actually there was a significant drop in the investment sector,” Eddy said.

“In the second half of 2008, 50 percent of the Indonesians interviewed invested their money in stock funds.”

She added the global crisis had already influenced Indonesians to be more careful in investing.
“Surprisingly, the demand to purchase new clothes is still similar to that in the second half of 2008 and first half of 2009,” she said.

“About 17 percent Indonesian respondents still like to buy clothes,” she added. (naf)

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J0hn (not verified) — Fri, 05/01/2009 - 4:05pm

It's not easy to change years of bad situation! But please look at what's happenned for last a couple of years: army and police generals went to jail, governors, high rank gov officals and so on accompanied these generals in jails. Changing badly corrupted country won't happen in days! Changing people's perseption is even harder BUT look at the today's facts! Indonesian KPK used to learn from many countries, NOW, they have visitors from other countries KPK to learn from them! An easy daily example: renewing driving licence in Jakarta is now in fact as easy and as fast as renewing driving licence in Australia, without "additional cost" too! Many things have slowly changed into better situation. Need a few more pages to give proven changes in Indonesia. Bad things are still out there but it will be changed since we have proven it could be changed! So citizens of neighbouring countries who always look down on Indonesia, watch your back! We're going to be the next powerful country!

Former Expat in Jakarta (not verified) — Thu, 04/30/2009 - 1:44pm

John Ralph's comments 'Foreign Investors are not coming'.....with printed dollars, inflated euros, no-value pounds sterling, etc???!!!. What Indonesians should do is to manage their own economy intelligently and efficiently. The guys at the top should think different and at least invest their ill gotten gains in-country and not grab and run to Singapore, London, Switzerland etc.

John Ralph (not verified) — Thu, 04/30/2009 - 11:46am

Sigit Mursidi says “West Papua is the cookie jar, and a lot of kids would love to grab it.”

This is of course what the Government wants you to believe but since when has anyone in Indonesia cared for one second about West Papua except certain powerful Indonesians that have made millions from West Papua. Essentially West Papua has been nothing more than a business to them.

West Papua was created under very dubious circumstances with the support of the USA and Australia, allegedly to stop the communist threat, and because of Freeport. The people of West Papua had no idea what was going on. It was Australia’s greatest foreign policy disaster.

There is absolutely no doubt that Indonesia has colonised West Papua against the wishes of its people. The whole world knows this to be true and this is against the laws of Islam, but of course Indonesia has it own convenient version of Islam, so who cares.

Sigit Mursidi’s lack of understanding proves my point.

ROD FROM SYDNEY (not verified) — Tue, 04/28/2009 - 6:49pm

Wow what a article.

Firstly, the global economic crisis is yet to hit you, I don't mean to point out the obvious, but when the foreign loans to your banks fall due in the next six months, offshore banks won't renew these, then you will have baning collapses.

Thats why I would call your economy, an ''EMU'' economy. You stixk your head in the sand and hope for the best.

Think carefully about the crisis, if countries like Australia are seeing a downturn, then you will certainly see a massive downturn soon.

Good luck.
Rod

Sigit Mursidi (not verified) — Tue, 04/28/2009 - 9:04am

Eradicating corruption, national integrity, and equitable development, those are the keys to Indonesian succes in the future. We are so dumb to learn to invest in the international market, and our stupidity had saved us. We have money to run the economy of 240 million people.

The comment above is the same comments I heard since 1998, which predicted dooms and glooms and balkanization. The seed was sowed mostly from above since 1945 up to now. The peak was the former US Ambassador to Jakarta right after 1998. The spate of bombings ended after we exterminated Dr.Azahari, who was a Malaysian, does that ring a bell?

Indonesia is so porous, we need to have a strong defense and a strong intelligence to protect our integrity. Remember the Australian plane which was caught landed in Merauke with no permit, no paper? It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that there are more to it than what appeared what the pres published.

West Papua is the cookie jar, and a lot of kids would love to grab it.

Sigit Mursidi (not verified) — Tue, 04/28/2009 - 8:53am

The fact that most Indonesians were so "dumb" not to invest in the international stock market has saved us from total disaster. Being an international economic moron has its merit. I agree with the results; with 240 million purchasing power, that is enough cash to generate a substantial economics.

I agree that this is a big country to govern, but so far we have found more reasons to be united. For so long as the national defense and intelligence is strong, we should be OK. The spate of bombings, ethnic clash, and separatist movements are mostly foreign induced, and was done in the power vacuum post 1998. It has been so since the beginning of the republic in 1945, and we have hard evidence for it, the latest being an Australian airplane which landed in Merauke with no paper, no ID, and no permit to entry whatsoever. It is a no brainer for four Australians risk something like that if it were just for "fun", come on, be real! It does not take an Einstein to tell us that there is something bigger than that.

Same thing with the dooms and glooms of the naysayer who predicted unevitability of balkanization of the RI. No, I don't think so. The government should use it as the most precious assets of the nation.

Florian (not verified) — Mon, 04/27/2009 - 7:20am

@John Ralph

I suppose that's because most Indonesians do not want to see it. It's like everyone's happy as long as he or she gets what they want, it's not important to many if that happens at the cost of others or if people will be treated unfair, as long as it doesn't affect them. I am also shocked very often how less people seem to want to know about these things. They have fancy bachelor or even master degrees, but seem to know jack about politics or economy even in their own country...it somehow worries me for Indonesia's future that there are only few Indonesians who have the competence and interest in those fields.

John Ralph (not verified) — Sat, 04/25/2009 - 9:02am

There some serious issues in reation to this report.
The first is that the Indonesian Government, Politicians and Bureaucrats do not tell the Indonesian people the truth about the serious issues confronting the country.
The second is that most Indonesians have no idea about the true state of their country.
The third is that Indonesians will not admit to ignorance and therefore will hold themslves out as having knowledge when in fact they know nothing.
Indonesia has extremely serious issues to face in the next decade that if not confronted will cause massive social unrest and economic decline. This is one reason why Golkar and PDI-P cannot control Indonesia.
Why is it that all foreign investors can see this but Indonesians can not.

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