With prices for key commodities at record highs, Indonesia — Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and a key exporter — should, at first glance, be enjoying good times.
But with high oil prices leading to a government fuel subsidy blowout and rising food prices hitting the poor, analysts say most Indonesians are being squeezed.
Indonesia is the world’s [...]

Malaysian Estate Owners’ Association president Boon Weng Siew said the price control mechanism under the Cooking Oil Subsidy Scheme (COSS) was causing the industry to suffer.
Responding to Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad’s suggestion to review price control and subsidies, Boon said artificial price controls led to shortages in the market.
Cooking [...]

The Ministry of Industry is proposing a ban on its industry’s export of molasses, the raw material for ethanol, as a measure to support the development of alternative energy biofuel, Kompas reported.
‘I have submitted the export ban proposal to the Trade Ministry and Agriculture Ministry,’ the report quoted Industry Minister Fahmi Idris as saying.