Jakarta – Indonesian people appear to be getting even richer. In the midst of a difficult situation it is precisely the wallets of a small handful of Indonesian’s that have become fatter.

Just look at the results of the latest survey by Capgemini SA and Merrill Lynch & Co that was released on Tuesday June 24. According to the survey, in 2007 the number of super-rich Indonesians with financial assets of 1 million dollars US or more jumped by 16.8 percent to 23,000 people.

It should be noted that the limit on wealth does not include fixed assets such as hoses or cars. The jump in the number of super-rich in Indonesia is the fifth highest in the world and was only surpassed by India, China, Brazil and South Korea.

The rate of growth of the wealthily-class in our country is also far above the growth rate for the world as a whole. Last year, the number of super-rich or high net worth individuals (HNWI) in the world only grew by six percent to 40.1 million people. As it happens the total value of their assets increased by 9.4 percent to 40.7 trillion dollars US.

Michael T. Tjoajadi, the director of PT Schroder Investment Management Indonesia, claims that he is not surprised at these figures. According to Tjoajadi, the jump in the Composite Share Index (IHSG) last year of as much as 52 percent was one of the factors in the rapid growth of wealthy Indonesians.

In addition to this, a number of regions outside of Java such as Kalimantan and Sumatra are currently experiencing a boom in mining and plantation commodities. “In Bali meanwhile, people are becoming richer because of the jump in the price of land there is extraordinary”, he Tjoajadi yesterday.

Unfortunately, Tjoajadi claimed he did not know how many of these super-rich became customers of PT Schroder Investment Management. Whereas as of late May, the investment management company netted funds of 25 trillion rupiah, the largest in Indonesia.

According to an executive at a foreign owned bank, the funds of Indonesian HNWI is spread across a number of asset management institutions such as banks and in securities. He claimed to have 800 customers who are categorised as HNWI and the average value of their funds was around 8 billion rupiah. “Some have still not entered the capital market”, said Tjoajadi.

In addition to this, many of Indonesia’s super-rich were not calculated in the survey because they live overseas. According to the same institution, in 2006 there were 19,000 super-rich Indonesians living in Singapore who controlled financial assets valued at 93 billion dollars US. (Cipta Wahyana, Nuria Bonita. Source: Kontan)

[Translated by James Balowski.]