Indonesia

Indonesian furniture retailer Fabelio has declared bankruptcy, announcing the move through local media. This comes after a Jakarta commercial court reached a verdict on October 5, TechinAsia.com reported. “I declare the debtor [Fabelio] in a state of bankruptcy with all the legal consequences,” Gde Braga Abi Tamara, the startup’s legal curator, told Bisnis Indonesia. On behalf of Fabelio, the curator will handle all of the company’s confiscated assets and then sell them to pay off debts.

PT Garuda Indonesia on Friday filed for chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of New York court, as the debt-laden carrier tries to secure its future profitability, Bloomberg News reported. The submission comes as the airline, having completed a court-supervised debt restructuring in Indonesia to halve reduce its debt load, tries to capitalize on the rebound in international travel. Garuda’s total debt now amounts to roughly $5.1 billion, President Director Irfan Setiaputra told parliament in Jakarta on Monday.

Garuda Indonesia can look forward to almost US$400 million in net profit next year and more in the following years, the government forecasts, pointing to a turnaround for the debt-laden national flag carrier, The Star reported. Following years of hefty losses, the airline operator would achieve $399 million in profit, which would increase to $647 million in 2026, according to the Finance Ministry’s projection.

Indonesia’s central bank unexpectedly raised borrowing costs for the first time since 2018 as policy makers conceded that inflation pressures have risen, revising their price forecasts higher, Bloomberg News reported. Bank Indonesia raised its seven-day reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 3.75% on Tuesday, a move predicted by only seven of 31 economists in a Bloomberg survey. BI raised its forecasts for headline and core inflation this year and said it sees risks that average price gains could exceed the 2%-4% target not just this year but also in 2023.

Just one month after being declared free from bankruptcy, Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia announced Friday that it had added three Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft to its operation and would increase its flight frequency by 32 percent in August, xinhuanet.com reported. "This strategy aims to optimize the company's performance. We need to continue boosting operational capacity and restructure the company," Garuda Indonesia President Director Irfan Setiaputra said in a statement.

Indonesia has launched a crackdown on peer-to-peer (P2P) lenders through a new regulation and capital requirements, in a move that industry sources say should help clean up a booming online lending sector beset by consumer complaints, Reuters reported. The rules, announced this month by Indonesia’s financial services authorities (OJK), set a minimum capital requirement for lenders at a 25 billion rupiah ($1.67 million), up from 1 billion rupiah previously, with an additional demand to maintain at least 12.5 billion rupiah of equity at all times. The regulation took effect on July 4.

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is seeking new investors to aid its new business plan after the airline gained creditors' support to restructure its Rp 142 trillion (US$9 billion) of liabilities, the Jakarta Post reported. The State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry has been in talks with several foreign airline companies and financial investors to invest in Garuda, Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, Deputy SOEs Minister said on Tuesday.

State-controlled carrier Garuda Indonesia has asked a Jakarta court to extend for the third time its deadline to complete its debt-restructuring process, its CEO said, as the verification of claims is still unfinished, Reuters reported. Garuda proposed a 30-day extension time to verify claims and finalise negotiation with the creditors, CEO Irfan Setiaputra said during a creditors meeting at the Central Jakarta Commercial Court on Tuesday.

Indonesia widened the scope of its export ban on raw materials for cooking oil to include crude and refined palm oil, its chief economic minister said on Wednesday, leaving markets in shock over the latest policy reversal, Reuters reported. The announcement flipped the minister's statement a day earlier, in which he had said the export ban would only cover refined, bleached, and deodorized palm olein. The change was "in line with the president's decision and after taking into account the feedback and views from the people," Airlangga Hartarto said in a short statement.