China's mainland, HK listed among top investors in Indonesia in Q1

Investors from China's mainland and Hong Kong have increased their investment in Indonesia, making them among the five largest investors in Indonesia in the first quarter of this year.

Indonesia's Investment Coordinating Board, or BKPM learned that investment from China's mainland and Hong Kong stood at 971.41 million US dollars in the first quarter of this year, a fourfold increase from 221.4 million U.S. dollars in the corresponding period last year.

It makes China's Hong Kong and mainland number 3 and 4 among the five largest investors in Indonesia throughout the period. Singapore tops the ranking with 2.9 billion U.S. dollars of investment, followed by Japan at 1.6 billion U.S. dollars. The Netherlands was the fifth largest investor with total investment of 300 million U.S. dollars.

The latest figure of materialized investment from China's mainland and Hong Kong, meanwhile, stood at 1.56 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 7.58 percent compared with 1.45 billion U.S. dollars recorded a year earlier.

The BKPM noted that China's investment commitment stood at 22.6 billion U.S. dollars throughout last year, 44.2 percent higher than 15.6 billion U.S. dollars recorded in 2014.

"It was a signal that China wanted to expand its investment commitment in Indonesia," BKPM Chairman Franky Sibarani said in his office here on Monday.

In total, direct investment into Indonesia recorded 146.5 trillion rupiah (about 11.1 billion U.S. dollars) from January to March this year, 17.6 percent higher from 124.6 trillion rupiah (about 9.5 billion U.S. dollars) recorded in the same period last year, according to data released by the BKPM.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) accounted for 65.59 percent of the amount, at 96.1 trillion rupiah (about 6.91 billion U.S. dollars), while domestic direct investment stood at 50.4 trillion rupiah.

The BKPM said the FDI figure in the first quarter of the year alone grew 5 percent from 6.57 billion U.S. dollars in the corresponding period last year.

However, it was 13 percent lower compared with 7.94 billion U.S. dollars recorded in the fourth quarter last year.

The total direct investment figure in the first quarter accounted for 24.6 percent of the total target of the year, set at 595 trillion rupiah (about 45.3 billion U.S. dollars).

Given the figures, Franky was upbeat that direct investment figures in the following quarters this year would remain high. He said that 1,747 new investment projects were being carried out in the first quarter.

"The Indonesian government has strong commitment and determination to protect and improve the nation's investment climate," Franky said.

Indonesia has attracted 545.4 trillion rupiah (about 41.6 billion U.S. dollars) of direct investment last year, 17.8 percent higher than in 2014.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has been actively encouraging investment in Indonesia during his visits to foreign countries and international forums.