Grab Indonesia, a ride-hailing application provider, plans to take measures to increase the income of its drivers in response to their protest earlier this week.

“We will study this. We all agree to make a joint effort to increase the income [of the drivers],” said Grab Indonesia managing director Ridzki Kramadibrata at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta as reported by kontan.co.id.

Ridzki and a representative of Go-Jek, another ride-hailing application provider, were at the palace on the invitation of Presidential Chief of Staff (KSP) Moeldoko to discuss the issue, following the meeting between President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and representatives of the protesting drivers on Tuesday.

Jokowi received the drivers’ representatives after thousands of drivers hit the street to demand the tariff increase, which was 1,600 rupiah (US$0.12) per kilometre.

During the meeting, Jokowi promised mediation between the drivers and the ride-hailing application providers.

Riszki said he would soon announce the results of the study and get ready to talk to government officials. – The Jakarta Post

KKB secures Petronas Carigali contract

OceanMight Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Indonesia’s KKB Engineering Bhd, has secured a contract from Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd for the provision of engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of wellhead platforms.

It said in a stock exchange filing that the job is for the D18 Phase 2 and D28 Phase 1 projects.

The term of the contract is for 21 months commencing in March, in which nine months for the work execution for the D28 Phase 1 project while another 12 months are the warranty period.

“The contract will have no effect on the Issued and Paid-up Capital of the Company and is expected to contribute positively towards the earnings and net assets of the Company for the duration of the Contract,” said KKB. – The Star

Astra subsidiary to issue first bond in 2018

Integrated transportation company PT Serasi Autoraya, a subsidiary of Indonsia’s Astra Group, is ready to issue one of its three bond series worth Rp 500 billion (US$35 million dollars), the company has announced.

Serasi Autoraya, also known as TRAC-Astra Rent Car, aimed to raise 2 trillion rupiah from the bond issuance, the majority of which would be used as its 2018 capital expenditure (capex), said Firman Yosafat Siregar, the company’s president director.

The company planned to allocate 1.8 trillion rupiah to the 2018 capex, 1.3 trillion rupiah of which would be used to purchase new vehicles, and the remaining funds to finance its fixed assets.

“We are confident that this bond issuance will be successful, seeing that our company has a good track record and solid financial position,” Firman said at an investors’ gathering.

Serasi Autoraya expected to obtain the Effective Statement from the Financial Services Authority (OJK) on Apr. 19, and issue the public bonds on Apr. 23-24. – The Jakarta Post

RP debt swelled to record 6.82 tn peso

The Philippines’ debt stock further swelled to another record-high 6.82 trillion peso in February partly as the peso further weakened against the dollar that month.

The latest Bureau of the Treasury data released earlier this week showed that the government’s outstanding obligations inched up by 1.4 per cent from January’s 6.73 trillion peso as well as increased by a faster 9.9 per cent from 6.21 trillion peso in February last year.

As the government still relies heavily on borrowing from local sources mainly through the sale of treasury bills and bonds amid relatively lower yields, the share of domestic debt to the end-February total remained bigger at 64.9 per cent. Domestic obligations declined by 0.02 per cent month-on-month to 4.43 trillion peso “due to the net redemption of government securities amounting to 1.28 billion peso, which were partially tempered by peso depreciation that increased the value of onshore dollar bonds by 360 million peso,” the Treasury explained in a statement.

The peso depreciated to 52.07:$1 at end-February from 51.341 to the greenback in January, the Treasury noted.

The weaker peso had been mostly blamed on market concerns on the current-account deficit. – Philippine Daily Inquirer