TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Jokowi ready with bold reform agenda to lure foreign investment
Jokowi has given his ministers a month to identify and revise ministerial regulations deemed harmful in the government’s efforts to attract foreign direct investment.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo meets with executives of South Korean automaker Hyundai at the Merdeka Palace on July 25. The government plans to implement a bold reform agenda to attract foreign investment amid fierce competition from neighboring countries. (Courtesy of Presidential Office/-)
T
he government is out to streamline its sprawling and infamously complicated regulations, as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo looks to kick-start his second term with a bold reform agenda.
Jokowi has given his ministers a month to identify and revise ministerial regulations deemed harmful to the country’s chances of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) amid fierce competition from neighboring nations.
Furthermore, he has also instructed his Cabinet members to resolve problems faced by multinational companies that have pledged to do business in the country, but are yet to realize their investments.
The former Jakarta governor said that, while the government had made great strides in terms of improving Indonesia’s investment climate, more could still be done to put the country in a more competitive position against its peers.
“I know that in the past five years, we’ve improved our Ease of Doing Business [ranking] and we also started simplifying [business] licensing through the OSS [Online Single Submission] system, but the fact is that it’s not enough,” said Jokowi in a recent Cabinet meeting in the Presidential Office.
Indonesia is ranked 73rd in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index for 2019, whereas neighboring Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia are ranked 69th, 27th and 15th respectively. Meanwhile, Singapore ranks second to New Zealand, which tops the index.
Jokowi went on to say that the government had sought to improve the overall ecosystem of investment, especially in areas related to regulations, licensing, taxation incentives, land acquisition, labor and security.
