A new government mining rule, limiting contract work that can be outsourced and favoring local players is shaping up as a fresh blow to plans to boost mining investment in the economy. The rule, attached to a mining law passed last year, presents an immediate challenge for new Energy and Mining Minister Darwin Saleh, who was sworn in last month amid hopes that a new government could boost the resources sector.

Combined foreign and domestic investment during the first 10 months of this year fell 13.8 percent from the same period last year due to the global economic crisis, the new head of the Investment Coordinating Board told a House of Representatives commission on Monday. Speaking on his first day in the job, Gita Wirjawan told House Commission VI, which oversees trade and investment, that the domestic economy had escaped from the crisis relatively unscathed.

DENPASAR, Bali - The honeymoon ended for Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono less than a month into his second term. Since his inauguration on October 20, there hasn't been much good news for SBY, as Yudhoyono is universally known here, and the downward spiral is accelerating.

JAKARTA - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is widely expected to use his strong electoral mandate to push reforms in his second term to attract foreign investment. But the re-elected leader's first 100-day plan is already raising concerns that much-needed liberalization measures may be slow in coming.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Domestic investment in the year ended October 2009 climbed 104.5 percent to Rp32.47 trillion from the same period a year earlier, the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) said. "The number of domestic investment projects rose to 212 from 194 previously," BKPM Chief Gita Wirjawan said at a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission VI overseeing trade, industry, investment, cooperatives, small and medium businesses and state enterprises here on Monday.