What is BI 7-day Rate? And its Impact on Banking?

On Friday, April 15, Bank Indonesia (BI) as the central bank of Indonesia, introduced a new benchmark rate for banking in the country that called the BI 7-day Reverse Repo Rate, which will replace the previous rate known as the BI Rate. This is the first time the BI changes one of its well-known policies, and it certainly unnerve investors (let ‘BI 7-day Reverse Repo Rate’, some of you may not even understand what is 'BI Rate'), and consequently the banking stocks fell heavily on that Friday, as investors became unsure about how the impact of this new policy on the bank’s financial performance.

Panama Papers, Tax Amnesty, and the National Economy

A few days ago, Minister of Finance, Bambang Brodjonegoro, said that the Government of Indonesia is considering lowering the rate of corporate income tax from 25% to only 20%. This is of course a good news for the companies, but because there were stories that the government has failed in achieving the target of tax revenue in last year, the market saw that the tax rate reduction could have negative impact on state finances and of course the national economy as a whole, and consequently the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) fell more than 1% in Tuesday. But here we're not going to discuss this JCI.

Stock Investment: The Most Relaxing Job in The World

Someone once said, 'If you're happy with your job, every day is a holiday.' So if your work is to analyze and invest in the stock market, and you like it, then you actually never worked for a minute. But here's the reality: If the market is in a friendly condition where the stocks are rising, most investors will do the stock analysis with pleasant. But what if the market crashes and some of your stocks crumbled? Are you still able to manage your portfolio with a joyous feeling without grumble and lamentation?