Foreign investment projects up 20%, value down 25%

JAKARTA (JP): The government approved 959 foreign direct investment projects between Jan. 1 and Dec. 15 this year, up 20 percent on the same period last year, but the value dropped 25 percent to US$29.9 billion.

State Minister of Investment/Chairman of the Investment Planning Board Sanyoto Sastrowardoyo said this yesterday after meeting President Soeharto at the Bina Graha presidential office.

Sanyoto said the value of licensed foreign investment projects last year had been unusually high because of eight huge oil refinery projects.

"We don't have such large projects this year," he said, adding that the projects licensed this year included plants relocated from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

By Dec. 15, 810 domestic investment projects worth Rp 100.7 trillion (US$43.78 billion) had been approved.

"This is the first time the value of domestic investment approvals in a year has exceeded Rp 100 trillion... But, like in previous years, only 46 percent of licensed domestic and foreign investments have been realized," he said.

Sanyoto said the government had approved 12 oil refinery projects last year but none had started.

Sanyoto said that in the first three years of the Sixth Five- Year Development Plan, which started in 1994, licensed domestic investments reached Rp 207 trillion while foreign investments totaled $94.3 billion.

"This means the value of investments approved in the three years has exceeded what we licensed throughout the Fifth Five- Year Development Program," he said.

During the Fifth Five-Year Development Program, the value of domestic investment approvals reached Rp 200 trillion while foreign investment approvals totaled $44.1 billion.

"Although we know the realization of projects reached only 50 percent of the licensed commitments, it must be understood that our target for the current Sixth Five-Year Development Plan is Rp 44 trillion a year," he said.

Since the New Order government's accession in 1969, Japan has ranked as the largest foreign investor with 919 projects worth $34.6 billion, followed by the United Kingdom with 217 projects worth $30 billion and Hong Kong with 358 projects worth $18.6 million.

ASEAN countries' investment in Indonesia made up 20 percent of cumulative foreign investment and members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum make up 59.8 percent.

From ASEAN countries, Singapore ranks first with 14.8 billion worth of investments, followed by Malaysia with $3.9 billion, Thailand with $2.3 billion, the Philippines with $439 million and Brunei with $178 million. (pwn)