Domestic investment approvals plunge

Domestic investment approvals plunge

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Investment activity in the country remains in the doldrums with
the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) revealing a bleak
picture of investment during the first seven months of this year.

The board actually reported an increase in foreign investment
approvals over the same period from US$3.2 billion in 2002 to
$4.67 billion this year. However, only $2.1 billion of this
year's figure could be categorized as foreign direct investment
(FDI).

Foreign direct investment usually translates into new projects
in the real sector that absorb unemployed people. For the first
seven months of this year, BKPM approved 519 new projects worth
$1.5 billion and expansion projects worth $616 million.

Meanwhile, the other $2.5 billion in foreign investment
approvals would not translate into new projects as they came from
approved changes of ownership in projects or companies involving
foreign investors.

The board also reported that foreign investors were mostly
interested in trading and repair work with 229 approved projects,
followed by the machine and electronics sector (59 projects) and
hotel and restaurant sector (34 projects).

On the domestic investment side, however, BKPM reported a 23
percent fall in domestic investment approvals to Rp 11.7 trillion
(US$1.35 billion) in the first seven months of this year from Rp
15.3 trillion posted in the same period last year.

The approved domestic investment will reportedly go to 114
projects, including 97 new projects and 45 expansion projects.
The figure also includes approvals for changes of ownership in 17
projects

Domestic investment will mostly be for chemical-related
industries (14), machinery and electronics (12), transportation
and communication (11).

The board did not offer any reason for the decline in the
figures, which should further expose the country's continued weak
business activity.

Analysts have long blamed the ongoing crisis, with a series of
terror attacks, as the main factors keeping foreign investors at
bay.

In addition, the slow pace of restructuring in both the
banking and corporate sectors have also been cited as key
obstacles hampering investment.

That slow pace of reform has not only caused low capital
demands for new projects from the private sector but also kept
the sector at a high-risk rating, making banks reluctant to
channel commercial loans to them.

That condition adds to the overall unfavorable investment
climate in the country, with investors complaining about various
conditions here that are detrimental to investment.

They include legal uncertainty as a result of
decentralization, security fears, labor-related disputes and lack
of confidence in the courts.

As part of attempts to lure more investors, the government has
declared this year as Indonesia's Investment Year, but so far
this declaration has failed to lure new investors.

Investment approvals have been consistently declining since
1997. In 2002, FDI approvals plummeted by 35 percent, while
domestic investment approvals dropped by 57 percent.

Before the crisis, investment was one of the country's main
engines of economic growth.

But now, it only accounts for less than 15 percent of economic
growth in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) with household
consumption contributing more than 70 percent.