Government to Cut More Permits to Boost Investments

The government intends to cut several investment permits from September to October 2019 and let the foreign capital to flow to Indonesia. During a limited cabinet meeting on Wednesday (9/4) in the State Palace, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) mentioned that the government had to anticipate the possibility of global economic recession through the increase of foreign investments. The president also concerned about the fact Indonesia was no longer the leading destination of foreign investments. He revealed that two months ago, around 33 companies left China, but none of them relocated to Indonesia: 23 of them went to Vietnam, ten others went to Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia.

The Coordinating Economic Minister, Darmin Nasution, stated that one of the reasons those companies tended to avoid Indonesia was the investment permits. The limited cabinet meeting resulted in an assessment that the government should cut any unimportant investment permit in the next two months. One of the unimportant permissions was the need for a particular recommendation or permits to import capital goods or machines for investments.