Below is a list with tagged columns and company profiles.

Today's Headlines Investment Climate

  • Indonesia Intends to Ease Bureaucracy Further to Attract Investments

    It was reported in Investor Daily on Monday (03/03) that the Indonesian government intends to cut back some of the country's notorious bureaucracy regarding investment permits, thus speeding up the process for permit applications. Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa stated that, although Indonesia already has had significant success in reducing bureaucracy in recent years, investors are still put off by the lengthy application process. This is a particular problem in the country's oil and gas sector.

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  • European Union Eager to Increase Foreign Direct Investment in Indonesia

    Colin Crooks, Deputy Head of the European Union delegation to Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and ASEAN, said that Europe's businesses are eager to invest in Indonesia. However, the European Union (EU) hopes that several issues that are blocking the Indonesian economy (particularly related to trade and investments) from growing further are dealt with. Crooks pointed at EuroCham's position papers, which discuss bottlenecks to Indonesia's investment climate and provides recommendations for its improvement.

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  • Foreign Companies Leave West Java on Higher Wages and Electricity Price

    Indonesian newspaper Bisnis Indonesia reported that a number of foreign companies in West Java are ready to leave Indonesia because of increasingly higher operating costs. Chairman of West Java's branch of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) Dedy Widjaja said that the main factors that are driving these investors away are higher regional minimum wages and the government's plan to raise the price of electricity. In May 2014, the Indonesian government intends to cut electricity subsidies for medium and large industry groups.

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  • Realized Investment in Indonesia in 2013 Will Exceed Target of the BKPM

    Head of the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Mahendra Siregar, is optimistic that total realized investments in Indonesia will exceed the target that is set for this year. The BKPM, a government institution, aims for investments worth of IDR 390 trillion (USD $32.5 billion) in 2013 and IDR 470 trillion (USD $39.2 billion) in 2014. Siregar is optimistic because many investors, particularly from Japan and the USA, are committed to engage in business expansion at the end of this year as well as next year.

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  • Indonesian Government Planning to Revise the Negative Investment List

    The Indonesian government is in the process of revising the country's Negative Investment List (the list that states which sectors of the economy are closed to foreign investment). Head of the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Mahendra Siregar, said that a number of (sub) sectors, previously closed to foreign investment, will be opened up this year. These sectors include telecommunication, financial institutions, pharmaceuticals, tourism, airport and seaport transportation services and management, healthcare, and advertising.

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  • New Minimum Wage Jakarta Set at IDR 2.4 Million ($213) per Month in 2014

    After two days of demonstrations by tens of thousands of Indonesian workers, the Governor of Jakarta (Joko Widodo) raised the capital's minimum wage to IDR 2.4 million (USD $213) per month. The new minimum wage, proposed by the Jakarta Wage Council, will be implemented in 2014 and constitutes a 10% increase from the current minimum wage of IDR 2.2 million. The workers, however, had demanded for a minimum wage of IDR 3.7 million causing various institutions and analysts to express concerns about the impact on the investment climate.

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  • World Bank: Indonesia Improves in the 'Doing Business 2014' Ranking

    On Friday (25/10), the World Bank released its 'Doing Business 2014' report in which it "ranks countries on their overall 'ease of doing business', and analyzes reforms to business regulation - identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most." In total 189 countries were analyzed. Indonesia, traditionally characterized by a complex and difficult investment environment, managed to climb 8 places in the ranking. Southeast Asia’s largest economy rose from number 128 to 120 in the 2014 edition.

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  • Indonesia Invites Investors to Develop Small Islands and Coastal Areas

    The government of Indonesia invites foreign and domestic investors to invest in the country's small islands and coastal areas in order to make these locations more attractive for tourism and other sectors. Facilities and infrastructure in these areas as well as transportation to and around these areas should be improved. Therefore, the government - through its Team for the Acceleration of Investment in Small Islands within the Ministry of Fishery and Maritime - is eager to make the investment climate more attractive. Currently, it sees three bottlenecks.

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  • Demand for Higher Minimum Wages Hurts Indonesia's Investment Climate

    On Monday (28/10), another large-scale demonstration took place in the center of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital city. The workers that participated in the strike demanded a new minimum wage for Jakarta's provincial government due to the country's recent high inflation rate after prices of subsidized fuels were raised in June 2013, thus curbing people's purchasing power. The workers demand for the new minimum wage of IDR 3.7 million (USD $327) per month. However, these developments can hurt the investment climate in Indonesia.

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  • Public-Private Partnership Projects in Indonesia Remain Troublesome

    The realization of infrastructure projects through the Indonesian government's public-private partnership (PPP) scheme is yet to bear fruit. Up to this day, PPP infrastructure projects in Indonesia are still constrained by the difficulty of land acquisition, regulatory uncertainties and lack of funding. These investments projects are not among the most popular investment projects of private investors because they usually involve expensive (and risky) investments as well as patience while waiting for return of investment.

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Latest Columns Investment Climate

  • Renewable Energy Sources in Indonesia; What Can We Learn from Solar Power Development?

    Renewable Energy Sources in Indonesia; What Can We Learn from Solar Power Development?

    At the start of the New Year we are taking a look at renewable energy development in Indonesia, specifically the case of solar power. Solar power is energy from the Sun that is converted into thermal or electrical energy, either through photovoltaic (PV) panels or through mirrors that concentrate solar radiation. The electrical energy can be used to generate electricity, or, it can be stored in batteries or thermal storage.

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  • Derivative Regulation of Omnibus Law: Indonesia Issues Positive Investment List

    At the start of February 2021, Indonesian President Joko Widodo signed Presidential Regulation No. 10 of 2021 on Investment Business Activities. This regulation forms a derivative regulation of the Omnibus Law on Job Creation (Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation), a landmark law that was passed by the House of Representatives (or DPR) on 5 October 2020.

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  • Economic Outlook Indonesia; An Interview with Richard van der Schaar

    The past year has been hectic. The global COVID-19 pandemic arrived, a worldwide recession followed; US-China turmoil continued, while geopolitical and geo-economic tensions are rising across the world. And all these matters seem interrelated. So, how is Indonesia doing amid these developments? And, how do they exactly impact on Indonesia's economy and society? It is time to sit down with Indonesia Investments' Managing Director Richard van der Schaar to hear his thoughts on these matters.

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  • Revision of Indonesia’s Controversial 2009 Mining Law; Better, Same, or Worse?

    Whenever Indonesia Investments discusses or illustrates the risks that are involved in Indonesia’s investment environment, we usually take the 2009 Mining Law as an example to illustrate the lack of legal certainty in Indonesia. Lack of legal certainty is one the key obstacles in Indonesia’s investment environment, and has therefore been undermining investment realization in Indonesia.

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  • Indonesia Economic Forum: Promoting Economic and Social Progress

    “Indonesia’s economic potential is unquestioned. The nation of 265 million people has all the ingredients to be a major global player. But converting the potential into business opportunities and success is not a straight path. The Indonesia Economic Forum is the perfect platform to build relationships, gain insights and recalibrate business strategies for building a successful enterprise.”

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  • Balancing Conflicting Interests: Indonesia’s Provincial Minimum Wages for 2020

    Discussing minimum wages is always a sensitive issue. Workers long for rapid growth of their monthly wages as many of them encounter difficulties in making ends meet in their daily lives. In fact, those whose salaries are close to the minimum wage tend to be near-poor and uneducated, particularly in developing nations such as Indonesia, and therefore both their present conditions and their future perspectives are far from bright.

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