Indonesia welcomes a new era of US investments

Indonesia welcomes a new era of US investments where the investors no longer place most of their capital in extractive industries.

American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Indonesia president Brian Arnold (left) officially hands over the executive summary of the US-Indonesia Investment Report to Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Thomas Lembong (center) while executive vice president and head of international affairs US Chamber of Commerce Myron Brilliant (right) looks on, during the US-Indonesia Investment Initiative 2016 in Jakarta on Thursday.(JP/Dhoni Setiawan)

Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Thomas Trikasih Lembong said 95 percent of US foreign direct investment (FDI) during the recent commodity boom was in oil, gas and mining.

Now, as the commodity boom has waned, foreign investments, including those from the US, have shifted to the downstream sector, in line with the government’s efforts to lessen the investments in the extractive industry and boost economic diversification.

“US investments to traditional sectors may persist, but we hope for more investments in e-commerce, pharmaceuticals and the creative industry,” Thomas said to The Jakarta Post at the US Chamber of Commerce’s US-Indonesia Investment Initiative 2016 at Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Jakarta on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Employers Association (APINDO) vice chairman Shinta Widjaja Kamdani said the US pharmaceutical businesspeople had expressed their interest in investing more as the sector had been removed from the investment negative list (DNI) in January.

“We will sign a memorandum of understanding related to the Indonesian pharmaceutical business assessment with the US businesspeople tonight,” Shinta said. (ags, Anton Hermansyah, The Jakarta Post)