To attract investors to put their money in the country's vast energy resources, the Finance Ministry has lifted import duties on goods and equipment for oil and gas exploration and production as well as export tax on coal products.

The Indian Oil Corp is set to enter the petroleum retailing business in Indonesia. The government-owned company plans to set up retail outlets in the country through a wholly owned subsidiary. The Indian Oil board in its next board meeting later this month is expected to approve the formation of the company. "Indonesia has opened up its petroleum retailing business.

Indonesia is pressing ahead with plans to construct nuclear power plants, Kyodo News reported on Thursday (16/11/06). “A technology and economic study has been done and we have come to a conclusion that these nuclear power plants are very viable for Indonesia,” Research and Technology Minister Kusmayanto Kadiman said in an interview. “Nuclear energy is one of the cheapest now, especially after oil prices have soared.

Indonesia's second largest mobile phone operator, PT Indosat, is aiming to launch its third-generation (3G) services by the end of the month, a senior company official said on Thursday (16/11/06). Two of Indosat's rivals, market leader PT Telkomsel and number three player PT Excelcomindo Pratama, launched the service in the second half of the year.

An influx of new foreign-backed competitors will not have an impact on PT Telkom's bottom line until 2008, a senior company executive said Tuesday (14/11/06). The massive infrastructure investment needed to allow new telecommunications firms to compete adequately in Indonesia will delay any impact they might have on Telkom for a while, chief financial officer, Rinaldi Firmansyah was quoted as saying by Dow Jones Newswires. "New (market) entrants should invest huge amounts in infrastructure...

Approvals for foreign direct investment (FDI) rose 18% to $13.21 billion during the January to October period from the same period a year ago, a release from the state investment agency (BKPM) said on Tuesday (14/11/06). Domestic direct investment approvals more than tripled to Rp143.67 trillion.

Gross domestic product grew 3.49% in the third quarter from the second quarter, faster than expected, as the World Bank said in a report that the economy was in position to boost growth to between 6% and 6.5% next year. Compared with a year earlier, GDP grew 5.52% last quarter, outpacing a downwardly revised 5.08% on-year growth figure in the second quarter.