Many foreign countries are always interested in Indonesia. In fact, when it comes to investing in Indonesia, 2017 had significant growth. Based on an article from The Jakarta Globe on January 31, 2018, the growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Indonesia had gone up to 8.5 percent. This was higher compared to 2016.
How investing in Indonesia 2017 went on had something to do with the latest and much easier regulations which had made it easier for foreign investors to start their businesses in Indonesia. According to Thomas Trikasih Lembong, BKPM Head, the rise of digital-based startup companies in Indonesia also contributed to the growing interests of foreign investors.
It is no surprise that from there, opening a digital startup company is also one of the foreign investors’ aims.
Since Indonesia’s economic transformation has switched from consumption to investment really quickly, the central government is also keen on boosting the investment. However, this has also caused the reduction o the role of domestic consumption in the composition.
Speaking of direct investment as part of investing in Indonesia 2017, here are the things which the majority of the DDI (domestic direct investment) has gone to:
- The electricity, gas, and water supply.
- The real-estate business.
Learning From Investing in Indonesia 2017:
Having seen how investing in Indonesia 2017 went on, the government has gone on with some other strategies to help to boost this country’s economic growth. Instead of only focusing on either domestic or foreign investment, they decided to do both.
Since digital-based companies have also been the main attraction to foreign investors since 2017, the presidential regulation set an online system. It was called “online single submission”. This system was set in April 2018. The aim is to help investors to complete their company registration much more easily.
Of course, this also means a task force consisting of government officials (ministries and government agencies) to monitor and facilitate the investments coming on. Of course, the investments should be related to their respective sectors.
To reduce the hassles caused by overlapped policies and rules between the central and regional governments, over-complicated regulations have been reduced. This is actually part of the government’s 16 policy packages that have been released since September 2015.
Because of the 16 policy packages, Indonesia is now in the 72nd position out of 190 countries assessed by World Bank in terms of easiness of doing business. However, President Joko Widodo does not want to stop there. His target for Indonesia is to rise to the 40th position by the year 2019.
What Future Investors Can Do After Having Learned from Investing in Indonesia 2017:
- The latest regulations have made it easier for foreign direct investments in Indonesia. That is good for boosting this country’s economy. Both domestic and foreign investors can do their part.
- Online single submission helps to speed up the process of company registry in Indonesia. Since many digital startup companies – especially “fintechs” (financial technologies) – have been around Indonesia a lot in 2017, investors may still consider that business potential.
Investing in Indonesia 2017 has been a valuable lesson to learn for all business investors. May 2018 bring something better.
