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

  • Investment Climate: Jakarta Administration Revokes Principle Permits Island Reclamation Project

    On Wednesday 26 September 2018 the local Jakarta administration decided to revoke private developers’ principle permits for the development of 13 artificial islands (reclaimed islands) in the bay north of Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta. The decision was hardly a surprise. After Anies Baswedan was elected Governor of Jakarta in 2017 it was assumed that the end of the grand project was near.

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  • Indonesia's Intervention in Fuel Prices Thwarts Private Investment

    There is concern that the Indonesian government's plan to curb price increases of (non-subsidized) fuels in Indonesia will impact negatively on private investors' enthusiasm to invest in Indonesia's oil and gas industry. Earlier this week Arcandra Tahar, Deputy Minister at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, informed that the government wants to regulate prices of fuels in order to keep inflation in check.

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  • Township Development in Indonesia: Topping Out First Meikarta Towers

    One of Indonesia's biggest diversified conglomerates, the Lippo Group, topped off two apartment towers for its ambitious and controversial Meikarta megaproject on Sunday (29/10). The topping off ceremony is a sign that - despite some legal uncertainties - the project will continue as planned and not face the same fate as the land reclamation project in the bay off the coast of North Jakarta.

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  • 16th Economic Policy Package: Single Submission System

    Indonesian President Joko Widodo unveiled the 16th economic policy package on Thursday morning (31/08) at the Indonesia stock Exchange building in Jakarta. This latest package aims to create an integrated licensing system. It also deals with strict supervision for the transition from the manual licensing system to an online system.

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  • Investment Climate Indonesia: Lenzen Group Opts for Thailand

    It is worrying that of total foreign investment commitments in Indonesia, only about 50 percent becomes actual investment. The other half decides - after initially being interested - not to pursue investment in Indonesia. Although not in all cases, it is believed that Indonesia's difficult investment climate scares away part of the (potential) investment community, specifically bureaucracy (red tape) and the lack of sufficient hard and soft infrastructure.

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  • What Can Investors Learn from Jakarta's Land Reclamation Project?

    The future of the ambitious land reclamation project in the bay of Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta is highly uncertain now Anies Baswedan has been elected as next Jakarta governor. Baswedan and his running mate Sandiago Uno have repeatedly expressed their objection to the reclamation project, while defeated Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) was a major supporter of the project.

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  • Case Study Investment Climate & Legal Certainty: Semen Indonesia

    Although the Indonesian government has been eager to improve the nation's investment climate in a bid to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) and thus boost economic growth of Indonesia, it is widely known that conditions in Indonesia's investment climate remain somewhat troublesome, reflected by the nation's mediocre ranking in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index 2017. Here it ranks 91 out of 190 countries across the globe.

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  • Weak Talent but Indonesia Remains Attractive Investment Destination

    A survey conducted by the Economist Corporate Network (ECN), published on Tuesday (17/01), shows that Indonesia is among Asia's most attractive investment destinations due to the combination of strengthening consumer demand and improvements in the nation's investment and business climate (a positive result of the government's reform efforts). In this survey, titled "Navigating Asia's Risks and Rewards: Asia Business Outlook Survey 2017", a total of 223 Asia-based business executives were asked about their business performance and expectations for the year ahead.

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  • Foreign & Domestic Investment in Indonesia Rose in Q3-2016

    According to the latest data from Indonesia's Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), investment realization (consisting of both foreign and domestic direct investment) in Indonesia grew 10.7 percent (y/y) to IDR 155.3 trillion in the third quarter of 2016. Cumulatively, investment realization in Indonesia stands at 453.4 trillion in the first nine months of 2016, achieving about 76 percent of the full-year target (IDR 594.8 trillion). Most likely, the BKPM's full-year target will be achieved.

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