The government should focus on attracting investment in manufacturing following the sector's declining contribution to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) over the past three years. Faisal Basri, an economist from the University of Indonesia, said on Tuesday that the government should prioritize investment in manufacturing since the sector was an important pillars of Indonesia's economic growth.

Local retail chain Indomaret is planning to open 800 new stores this year, making its total number of outlets across the country 5,755. Indomaret currently operates 4,955 stores throughout Indonesia. Wiwiek Yusuf, director of marketing at PT Indomarco Prismatama, which operates Indomaret, said 50 new stores had opened in January alone. “Our share in the retail chain market was 38 percent last year.

At least 22 shoe companies from South Korea, China and Vietnam have planned to relocate factories to Java, a senior government official says. Industry Ministry secretary-general Ansari Bukhari said the shoemakers were eyeing Sidoarjo in East Java, Tangerang in Banten, Purwakarta, and Sukabumi in West Java as potential new sites for their factories. Each relocation would bring in between Rp 50 billion (US$5.5 million) and Rp 60 billion in investment and produce 600,000 shoes a month, Ansari said.

With poor weather conditions affecting harvests, local soybean production this year is anticipated to fall short of the government target. Earlier, the government said it expected to produce up to 960,000 tons of soybeans in 2011, but this target would be “hard” to meet, Deputy Agriculture Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said in Jakarta on Wednesday. The planting period, between August and October, is expected to have been too wet for healthy crops.

TEMPO Interactive, Denpasar:The Bali provincial government is applying a moratorium on hotel construction. The policy is being implemented in Denpasar, Badung and Gianyar. Bali government spokesperson I Ketut Teneng, said the policy was effective as of January 5 this year. “Hotel construction will be directed to northern Bali,” Ketut said yesterday.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Sweden is exploring possibilities of doing pro-environment business with Indonesia, visiting Trade Minister Ewa Bjorling said here on Tuesday. The minister made the statement when opening a seminar themed "Green Growth for Indonesia : A Knowledge Sharing Seminar with Sweden" in Jakarta. "During the past years, Indonesia has shown a strong commitment to implementing the concept of pro environmental development and tackle the impact of climate change.

Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA News) - Bali`s non-oil/gas exports last year reached 519.91 million US dollars, a 3.4 pct increase from the 502.54 million US dollars a year earlier. "The 2010 forex earning exceeded the set 515.8 million US dollars," publication and documentation head of the Bali provincial administration I Ketut Teneng said here Tuesday.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - National industrial growth last year doubled to 5.1 percent from 2.6 percent the year before, fueled by growing investment, exports and public consumption, an official said. The 5.1 percent industrial growth surpassed the government-set target of 4.65 percent for 2010, Secretary General of the Industry Ministry Anshari Bukhari said here on Tuesday.

Younger and less affluent users have pushed mobile phone penetration in Indonesia to almost triple what it was five years ago, according to a Nielsen survey. Out of 15,000 respondents from nine large cities, 54 percent said they owned a mobile phone, a 34 percent increase from a similar survey in 2005. In contrast, only 11 percent of respondents said they owned a landline phone, down from 25 percent in 2005.