Jakarta. Beijing. Hong Kong. Singapore. Taipei.

INDONESIA AND ASEAN

Indonesia has been able to maintain macroeconomic and political stability.The country was ranked 25th in the World Economic Forum’s 2012 competitiveness report and continues to show a promising outlook. Even though the Indonesian economy has slowed down significantly in recent months, which was accompanied by a still continuing weakening of its currency and an increased inflation rate, Indonesia is projected to lead growth in Southeast Asia with an average growth of 6-6.4% over 2013-2017. It is one of the six countries that the World Bank believes will account for more than half of all global growth by 2025, and McKinsey calculates that it has the potential to become the world’s seventh biggest economy by 2030.

 

From 2013-2017, Southeast Asia is predicted to grow at an average annual rate of 5.5%. These emerging economies will become global growth generators, supported by large working-age populations that sustain strong domestic demand and offset the weakness in the external sector. Consequently, to boost their economic growth, Southeast Asian economies will rely on low-cost and readily available energy supply, and will continue to drive global demand for thermal coal.

 

In Indonesia, for example, the government is aiming to expand electricity access to 92.3% of the Indonesian population by 2021. To achieve this, state-owned power utility PLN is planning to build 57.25 GW of power generation capacity between 2012 and 2021, of which 66% or 37.7 GW will be fuelled by coal.