Energy is certainly the ‘thing’ to watch in the years, well decades, ahead. Amid heavy political pressures from the West, the world is heading for an unprecedented energy transition in which fossil fuels are going to be replaced by renewable energy sources. This is certainly great news for the environment (but whether the energy transition can ease, let alone stop, climate change – which is cited as the goal of this transition – seems iffy though).

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On 30 September 2021 Indonesia’s House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR) approved the 2022 State Budget (Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Negara, APBN) that had previously been proposed by the cabinet. And with 14.2 percent of total government spending being reserved for infrastructure development in the 2022 State Budget, the Indonesian government confirms that it remains committed to much-needed infrastructure development.

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According to the latest data from Statistics Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik, or BPS), Indonesia posted a USD $4.37 billion trade surplus in September 2021. It is a slightly lower surplus compared to the previous month (when Indonesia posted its highest ever monthly trade surplus), but remains one of the highest surpluses in the history of Indonesia.

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Currently, coal certainly ranks among the most interesting commodities. On the one hand, Indonesia expressed its commitment to reduce consumption of this dirty fossil fuel (that is especially used as raw material for the generation of electricity in power plants but also in various manufacturing industries such as the cement industry and textile industry) as the country seeks to become ‘carbon neutral’ by 2060 (although many doubt to what extent Indonesia is really committed to this ambition; after all, it has more immediate concerns such as the dozens of millions of Indonesians living below, and just above, the national poverty threshold).

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