Singapore Could Be Indonesia's Largest Investing Country : Ambassador

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Singapore could become the largest investing country in Indonesia this year, Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore  Andri Hadi said here on Wednesday.

"Singapore could invest  up to US$5 billion  in  Indonesia this year," Hadi told the news agency Antara.

 He said he had teamed up with the Capital Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin)  and other relevant institutions to attract more investment  from Singapore.

 There are five countries with the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country  in 2013.

The largest among the five countries was Japan with FDI reaching US$4.71 billion, followed by Singapore with FDI of US$4.67 billion, the United States US$2.4 billion, South Korea US$2.2 billion  and Britain US$1.1 billion.

Other countries invested a total of US$13.5 billion  or 47.2 percent of the total new investment in 2013.  
   By the third quarter of 2014  Singapore led  with FDI totaling US$4.9 billion  or  22.5 percent of the total FDI.

Hadi said Singapore invested mainly in Jakarta  and neighboring districts  in the sectors of transportation, telecommunications, warehousing , manufacturing, food processing industry , plantation and electronics .

Recently Hadi accompanies 40 business leaders from Singapore to study investment  and business opportunities in Jakarta  and  Surabaya.

Singaporean investors chose to invest in the country's  two largest cities as they have more adequate infrastructure  and have large and modern seaports.

By the third quarter of 2014, Singapore invested US$1.5 billion in Jakarta, US$492.3 million in Banten, US$411.7 million in East Java, US$320.9 million in East Kalimantan  and  US$300.4  million in South Sumatra.

"Another group of business leaders from Singapore would visit Indonesia for the same purpose," Hadi said.

He invited other provinces to come to Singapore to promote their business opportunities such as in food, energy and farm sectors by holding workshops and business discussions.

East Java  and Riau Islands provinces have accepted the invitation  and South Sumatra is expected to follow, he said .

Every year, the Indonesian embassy organizes exhibitions of Indonesian commodities including  vegetables, fruits  and other farm products in Singapore.  

Data from the embassy showed that in the first seven months of this year trade between Indonesia and Singapore was valued at US$42.9 billion , down 0.9 percent year-on-year.

According to data from the Singapore Trade and Industry Ministry  (MTI)  in 2013, Indonesia was Singapore's fourth largest trading partner after the United States,  Malaysia  and China with trade turnover of S$74.8 billion  or 7.63 percent of its foreign trade of S$980.2 billion (US$780 billion). 

In the first seven months of 2014, Indonesia was still that country's fourth largest trading partner after China, Malaysia and the United States  with bilateral trade valued at S$42.99 billion  or 7.38 percent of its total foreign trade of S$582.8 billion  (US$468.1 billion. (WDY)