JAKARTA: Indonesia aims to boost total investment this year by a third, bolstered by an influx of investment into its resource-processing sector, a cabinet minister said on Thursday (Jan 27), after reporting foreign direct investment (FDI) rose 10 per cent in 2021.
Southeast Asia’s largest economy wants to attract 1,200 trillion rupiah (US$83.43 billion) in investment this year, from both domestic and foreign sources, up from 2021’s 901.02 trillion rupiah, Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia told an online news conference.
Last year, Indonesia recorded 454 trillion rupiah of FDI, up 10 per cent from 2020 and representing more than half of total investment. The data excludes investment in banking and the oil and gas sectors.
“The priority focus for investment in 2022, firstly we must refer to the grand vision of our president, which is transformation and downstreaming (of natural resources),” Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia told a news conference.
Investment in this area this year included a US$2.3 billion coal gasification plant by state miner Bukit Asam and electric vehicle battery projects by South Korea’s LG Group and China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), he said.
“This year, some (investors) have confirmed to build an industry in North Kalimantan, which will be a big alumina production hub and will have petrochemicals as well,” Bahlil said.
The minister also said he will urge Taiwan-based Foxconn to realise a planned Indonesian investment to develop electric cars.
Indonesia, the world’s biggest nickel producer, has been pushing to develop an EV industry as part of a bid to squeeze more value from its ore reserves. It banned nickel ore exports in 2020.
President Joko Widodo has said he wants the resource-rich country to stop exporting unprocessed bauxite, copper, tin and gold in its next move to attract investment.
The biggest beneficiary of FDI last year was the base metal sector followed by mining and transport, warehousing and telecommunication.
Singapore was the biggest source of FDI, followed by Hong Kong, China, the United States and Japan.
In the fourth quarter, FDI rose 10.1 per cent on a yearly basis, reaching 122.3 trillion rupiah
