On 20 March 2016, Indonesia Investments released the latest edition of its newsletter. This free newsletter, which is sent to our subscribers once per week, contains the most important news stories from Indonesia that have been reported on our website over the last seven days. Most of the topics involve economic matters such as Bank Indonesia's latest interest rate cut, the resumption of talks about a free trade agreement with Australia, the trade balance, GDP growth projections of the World Bank and IMF, the family planning program, commodities, and more.

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The population of Indonesia, which numbers over 255 million people in 2015 (unofficial data), grows at a worrying pace according to Surya Chandra Surapaty, Head of the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN). Currently, Indonesia's average annual population growth rate stands at 1.49 percent. This means that each year the Indonesian population expands by 4.5 million people (nearly the size of Singapore's total population).

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Minister of People’s Welfare Agung Laksono said that Indonesia's current population growth pace is alarming and immediate action is needed to reduce the country's growth and birth rates. Laksono made this statement after opening the National Congress on the Population Program, Family Planning and Family Development in 2014 on Wednesday (12/02). According to the Minister, family planning programs have not had much success over the past decade. If not acted upon, the population number can exceed government projections.

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Although infrastructure development across the Indonesian nation is center of attention in the media, President Joko Widodo will not neglect the family planning program. Instead he seeks to revive the nation's family planning program. An effective family planning program is one of the key strategies to boost future economic growth because a low population growth rate translates into a higher per capita gross domestic product, which translates into higher incomes, higher savings, higher investment and implies a decline in overall poverty.

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Chairman of Indonesia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Suryo Bambang Sulisto stated that the most crucial problem which Indonesia is facing currently as well as in the foreseeable future is unemployment. Sulisto said that while the population of Indonesia has grown continuously in the past decade, unaffected by family planning programs, employment opportunities have not grown accordingly. In fact, they have declined. At end-2013, Indonesia's unemployment rate stood at 6.3 percent (of the total labor force).

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