Indonesia managed to enter the top five in the Global Retail Development Index, reflecting the strength and potential of the nation's retail sector. In the 2016 edition of the index, compiled by global consulting company AT Kearney, Indonesia jumped to fifth position (from 12th in the 2015 edition). The Global Retail Development Index measures the attractiveness of the retail sector in 30 developing economies as well as identifying investment opportunities in these markets. China remains number one in the ranking, followed by India, Malaysia and Kazakhstan.

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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe informed Indonesian President Joko Widodo that Japan is eager to be involved in the USD $3 billion Patimban deep seaport in Subang (West Java). This seaport is envisaged to become an international seaport with a 7.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) capacity. President Widodo is in Japan for a two-day visit (26-27 May). On the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit, Widodo and Abe discussed several projects: the Patimban seaport, the revitalization of the northern Java railway, and the Batang power plant.

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Soon foreign investors will be allowed to control a full 100 percent stake in electronic commerce (e-commerce) businesses in Indonesia. Currently, the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) is completing a new regulation that streamlines the latest regulatory changes in this industry (this regulation is expected to be completed in June 2016). Earlier this year, Indonesian President Joko Widodo signed a decree that opens (more wider) foreign ownership in various industries, including Indonesia's e-commerce industry.

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One of the business sectors in Indonesia that has recently been opened up to foreign investment is the movie theater industry. The opening of the movie industry for foreign investors can be regarded a milestone in Indonesia's film industry and also forms a lucrative business opportunity for these investors. There are currently only 1,117 movie screens in Indonesia to serve a potential audience of more than 255 million people, hence being one of the world's least penetrated cinema markets.

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The cold storage industry of Indonesia needs IDR 12 trillion (approx. USD $902 million) of additional investment in order to raise installed capacity to a sufficient level. Currently, Indonesia still has to cope with a deficit in terms of the availability of cold storage facilities. This causes a problem for the preserving as well as the transportation of (processed) seafood, chicken meat, fruits and vegetables. At the start of 2016 the Indonesian government announced it would open the cold storage industry to foreign investment for the full 100 percent. However, investment realization has been limited.

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Investors from South Korea plan to invest up to USD $18 billion in Indonesia. Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Kadin) Rosan Perkasa Roeslani, Trade Minister Thomas Lembong and Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi witnessed the signing of business agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoU) in Seoul on Monday (16/05), covering bilateral cooperation in infrastructure development such as power plants, gas pipelines and railways as well as trade, creative economy, environment, and maritime affairs.

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On 1 May 2016, Indonesia Investments released the latest edition of its newsletter. This free newsletter, which is sent to our subscribers once per week, contains the most important news stories from Indonesia that have been reported on our website over the last seven days. Most of the topics involve political and economic matters such as the 12th economic policy package, problems related to the land reclamation project off the coast of Jakarta, an update on inflation, the palm oil industry, smartphone usage, the most profitable companies, and much more.

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Ahead of central bank meetings in the USA and Japan, and amid a volatile performance of crude oil prices the benchmark stock index of Indonesia (Jakarta Composite Index) fell 1.33 percent to 4,814.09 points on Tuesday (26/04), leading losses among Asian indices. The Federal Reserve's two-day FOMC meeting, scheduled to start today, is making investors cautious as this meeting may give some clues about the possibility of a June Fed Fund Rate hike. Overall, the performance of Asian stock markets was rather mixed on Tuesday. This performance was also attributed to weak cues from Wall Street and Europe overnight.

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In rupiah terms, foreign direct investment (FDI) into Indonesia in the first quarter of 2016 grew 17.1 percent year-on-year (y/y) to IDR 96.1 trillion according to the latest data from the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM). Meanwhile, in US dollar terms FDI in Q1-2016 rose 4.5 percent (y/y) to USD $6.9 billion (using the IDR 13,900 per USD exchange rate set in the 2016 state budget). Due to the volatile rupiah rate, Indonesia's FDI always tends to be somewhat distorted when comparing these data in different currencies or in different time intervals.

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Rosan Roeslani, Chairman of Indonesia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin Indonesia), is optimistic that investment from the Netherlands into Indonesia will continue to grow in the years ahead as the Indonesian government has been focused on improving the investment climate of Southeast Asia's largest economy. President Joko Widodo's visit to the Netherlands (22-23 April 2016) resulted in about USD $606 million worth of Dutch investment commitments, signed on Friday (22/04) in The Hague.

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The Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) said that total realized investments in Indonesia in the third quarter of 2013 was recorded at IDR 100.5 trillion (USD $8.89 billion). Of this total figure, IDR 67.0 trillion (USD $5.93 billion) was accounted for by foreign direct investment (FDI), while the remainder (IDR 33.5 trillion) was classified as domestic direct investment (DDI). The total investment realization of IDR 100.5 trillion was the highest ever quarterly investment figure since the BKPM releases these quarterly results.

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Apart from the five tax incentives that I have mentioned in a previous column, the Indonesian government also intends to ease two other tax rules in order to boost investments in Indonesia from 2014 onwards. These are the tax holiday and tax allowance. Relaxation of the tax holiday involves an alteration to the period as well as the size of the investment, and relaxation of procedural difficulties. Relaxation of the tax allowance involves the revision of the number of sectors that are eligible and a relaxation of procedures in the form of tax clearance.

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Growth of Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) in Indonesia has continued to slow down in the first six months of 2013. In the first quarter of 2013, GFCF rose 5.78 percent but in the second quarter the pace fell to 4.67 percent. These results are much lower than last year's quarterly growth rates as can be seen in the table below. In fact, the growth rate in Q2-2013 constitutes the lowest growth rate in the last 13 quarters. In Q2-2013, all sectors experienced weakening investments except for domestic machinery and equipment.

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After several years of significant foreign capital inflows into Indonesia, a sharp contrast has been visible in recent weeks. Global panic that followed in the days after Ben Bernanke announced that the Federal Reserve intends to withdraw its quantitative easing program in 2014 (if economic recovery of the USA continues), hit Indonesia hard. It triggered a massive capital outflow from the country's stock exchange (IDX) as well as from government securities (Surat Berharga Negara, or SBN).

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Although the United States continues its traditional focus on direct investments in developed countries, primarily in Western Europe, there has been a significant rise in US investments in Indonesia in recent years. Whereas US investments in the developed economies of Western Europe is mostly found in the financial sector and through holding companies, in developing Asia, the US is more focused on the manufacturing sector due to lower production costs. In the last two years, the US emerged as the second-largest investor in Indonesia after Japan.

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Foreign investment in Indonesia has maintained its steady pace in the first quarter of 2013. Ahead of next year's presidential and legislative elections, which trigger uncertainties about the future course of the country, foreigners have bought more Indonesian stocks in Q1-2013 than in the four quarters of 2012 combined. Moreover, foreign direct investments (FDIs) have increased by 27 percent (YoY) in Q1-2013 and show an interesting shift towards Indonesia's manufacturing sector.

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Rising American and European stock indices last Friday, helped to support Asian stock indices today (22 April 2013), including the Indonesia stock index (IHSG). However, the ongoing drama brought on by last Saturday's earthquake in China, impacted on the China stock index as well as on other Asian stock indices, including the IHSG. As the IHSG has been showing signs that it is overbought, market participants preferred to sell portions of their stock portfolios, resulting in a limited fall of the IHSG.

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In Quarter I 2013 (January-March), total investment in Indonesia increased 30.6 percent to IDR 93.0 trillion (US $9.58 billion) compared to the same period in 2012 according to data from the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (Badan Koordinasi Penanaman Modal, abbreviated BKPM), a government institution. Of this total amount, about seventy percent is accounted for by foreign direct investment, while the remaining thirty percent constitutes domestic direct investment.

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This week, the World Bank published its Indonesia Economic Quarterly (IEQ, edition March 2013) titled 'Pressures Mounting'. It reports on key developments over the past three months in Indonesia’s economy, and places these in a longer-term and global context. To read the whole report, please visit the World Bank's website at www.worldbank.org or download this edition directly through this link. Below we present the executive summary.

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Despite the fact that Indonesia reported the world's third-highest GDP growth in 2012 (behind China's 7.4 percent and Saudi Arabia's 7.1 percent), supported by rising consumption by a burgeoning middle class and significant increased foreign direct investment, the country's performance in terms of competitiveness is disappointing. It is cheaper to import products from countries that contain competitive businesses than to produce them in Indonesia.

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