RI still attractive to foreign investors

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)