RI still attractive to foreign investors

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Investment Sanyoto Sastrowardoyo reiterated yesterday that Indonesia was still attractive to foreign investors despite the ongoing currency crisis.

Total foreign investment approvals rose to US$33.8 billion from January to Dec. 15 by 13 percent from $29.9 billion in the same period last year, Sanyoto said after opening the Indonesia Netherlands Forum (FINED) in Surabaya, East Java, yesterday.

"The figure shows that foreign investors still have trust in Indonesia. But we still have to wait for the realization of investment approvals which can usually be detected within the following two-year period," he said.

The minister acknowledged that the currency crisis had affected some foreign investors.

Speculative attacks on the rupiah has caused it to drop by about 80 percent against the U.S. dollar since early July.

"We are still conducting a study to find out which companies benefit and which are losing business," he said.

There were some investors who did business in rupiah and made their income in dollars and benefited from the upheaval, Sanyoto said.

He added that foreign investors still showed interest in Indonesia as a country, with a population of 200 million, which had been politically and economically stable for the past 25 years.

However, total foreign and domestic investment approvals in East Java had been decreasing, Antara news agency reported yesterday.

According to the head of the provincial investment coordinating office in Surabaya, Bambang Koesbandono, as of September 1997, total foreign investment approvals were $2.2 billion, consisting of 44 projects, while domestic investment approvals totaled Rp 7.2 trillion, consisting of 45 projects.

He said that in 1996, foreign investment approvals totaled $2.8 billion involving 96 projects. There were 94 domestic investment approvals worth Rp 12.6 trillion approved in 1996, he added.

Sanyoto said the forum was important in improving cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands.

Indonesia's FINED chairman, Frans Seda, said the two countries should continue to expand cooperation in the future, especially in the transfer of technology. (icn)