Market Update Indonesia: China tops the investor's list

Mainland China appears for the first time among Indonesia's top foreign investors. The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) ranks mainland China as the fourth-largest investor, after Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong, with its biggest investments in smelting facilities and cement manufacturing.

The BKPM recently launched a China desk, which employs Chinese-speaking staff, including two to three Chinese Embassy employees, to help investors in dealing with issues such as slow responses to licenses, land inquiries and language barriers.

Indonesia is pushing manufacturing forward to help reduce unemployment amid a slow global economy that caused price declines in the country's key commodities. As a consequence, President Joko Widodo has launched 12 economic packages so far aimed also at cutting red tape for investments in manufacturing facilities.

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