New guide book available for foreign businessmen
New guide book available for foreign businessmen
Investment in Indonesia: Guide to investment, trade, taxation and
other business matters
KPMG Hanadi Sudjendro & Rekan, 1995
203 pages
JAKARTA (JP): Despite heated debates about gross inefficiency
and the high costs of its economy, Indonesia, endowed with a wide
range of natural resources and with the world's fourth largest
population of over 195 million, remains one of the most
attractive places for foreign investments in Asia.
One of the indicators is licensed foreign investment
commitments, even though they are not wholly identical to actual
capital outlays. In the first eight months of this year, US$30.1
billion in new foreign investments (outside the hydrocarbon
sector) were licensed, compared to $23.7 billion in all of 1994
and $8 billion throughout 1993.
The impressive investment figures, however, do not mean that
identifying business opportunities and setting up businesses in
the country is as easy as in developed countries, which have
clear-cut rules on almost all aspects of business activities and
good business-information systems.
It is no wonder that major international consulting firms find
it lucrative advising companies on how to do business in
Indonesia or on how to invest here. Most investor guides on
Indonesia sell like hot cakes.
One of the latest books providing insight to foreigners
intending to set up business or to invest in Indonesia is Invest
in Indonesia published by KPMG consulting company.
The 200-page book appears to have been born out of the
consulting business experiences of KPMG through its local
affiliate, KPMG Hanadi Sudjendro & Rekan, in Jakarta. It is
designed mostly to meet the needs of those who have never done
business in Indonesia.
The book deals with almost everything a foreign businessperson
needs to know about setting up business in Indonesia, including
labor rules, the costs of maintaining expatriate staff, import
and export rules, banking and other financial services.
Like most other investor guide publications, the book also
provides a general overview of the country. It contains all basic
facts on history, geographical characteristics, system of
government and other useful details.
One part of the book which will be helpful to foreign
businesspeople is the outlines of Law No.1/1995 on Limited
Liability Companies in chapter nine. This chapter stipulates all
important provisions of the law which apply to businesspeople
intending to set up a company in Indonesia.
The KPMG investor guide book is also far more elaborate than
other similar publications regarding accounting and auditing
rules and taxation. This perhaps should be attributed to the KPMG
main business line which provides professional services in
taxation, audit and investigations, accounting, business advice
and management consulting.
The book devotes seven chapters covering 75 pages to technical
explanations about all kinds of taxes, including all the double
taxation agreements the Indonesian government has concluded with
foreign governments, complete with the respective withholding tax
rates applied.
The book does not provide any advice nor recommendation to
invest in Indonesia. Neither does it include a general depiction
of the culture aspect in doing business in Indonesia.
But as the publisher states in the preface, the book is only
introductory and general in nature and should not be relied upon
as a substitute for detailed advice as a basis for formulating
business decisions.
The book nonetheless is worthwhile for foreign businesspeople
interested in Indonesia, especially because the contents of the
book, different from similar publications of the government, are
well structured and designed especially to fulfill the needs of
foreign businesspeople. (vin)