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Local English-language business magazine Globe Asia, in
collaboration with U.S-based polling firm Gallup, is to start
conducting Indonesian business optimism and personal confidence
surveys, adding to the list of existing surveys benchmarking the
country's economic performance.
The partnership will be the first time Gallup has teamed up with a
media firm.
The new surveys -- the Business Optimism Index (BOI) and the Personal
Economic Optimism Index (PECI) -- will be conducted twice a year, in
May and October, with the results being published in the magazine's
July and January editions, the two firms said in a joint statement.
"Both indices will serve as credible barometers for economic conditions
in Indonesia, just like the widely followed Housing Index in the United
States," the magazine's chief commissioner, Rizal Ramli, said Thursday.
Gallup's managing partner for Singapore and Southeast Asia, Peter Ong,
said the surveys would take a representative sample of 100 senior
executives and directors, and 500 middle-level professionals.
"We think that an index that captures the pulse of the economy through
the eyes of the business elite will be of definite interest and value
to the business elite themselves, potential investors and government
leaders."
Rizal added that the surveys would analyze the financial health
behavioral patterns -- spending, saving and borrowing habits -- of
mid-level working professionals.
"We believe that this group has considerable spending power in
Indonesia, and therefore is regarded as a very important target
consumer group for businesses here."
Globe Asia publisher Tanri Abeng said he hoped the new indices would
bridge the existing gap between the government and the business
community.
Similar surveys, including monthly consumer confidence indices, are
produced by Bank Indonesia and the Danareksa Research Institute. The
Central Statistics Agency (BPS) also conducts quarterly business and
consumer confidence surveys.
Accordingly, Globe Asia and Gallup say they will also survey the
perceptions of business players regarding specific and current economic
issues that are relevant to the indices. Unlike normal confidence
surveys, which consistently pose the same questions to respondents,
these special surveys will pose different questions each time.
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