Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan affirmed that investment worth US$30.9 billion in the downstreaming sector is ready to be implemented to provide benefits to the Indonesian economy.

“In our next year’s pipeline, there is almost US$31 billion (investment) that we have to execute,” he stated during the 2022 Investment National Coordination Meeting (Rakornas) here, Wednesday.

According to the minister, investment is in the construction stage and/or awaits approval. Thus, the potential should be executed by providing investment and facility convenience.

Amid the global economic conditions in 2023 that will become even more difficult, one of the options to drive growth is to attract as much foreign direct investment (FDI) as possible through the downstreaming program.

“Investment realization should be directed toward licensing acceleration, so that the existing investment pipeline can be realized. We cannot have regions that slow down license, but we also cannot have them violate the regulation,” he remarked.

The investment pipeline reached US$30.9 billion until 2026, and it is spread in Kalimantan, Sulawesi to North Maluku.

Several factors are causal to the economic conditions in 2023 becoming more difficult, Pandjaitan stated.

These factors include the declining global economy that triggers a drop in primary commodity prices that hinder exports.

Moreover, high inflation in developed countries will result in higher interest rate that leads to stagnation of domestic consumption and investment.

Moreover, the government’s consumption will be restricted by the three-percent state budget deficit from the gross domestic product (GDP) regulation that will hinder economic growth.

During the event, the minister also urged the Investment Ministry to immediately handle the non-technical issue within the Online Single Submission Risk Based Approach (OSS RBA) system.

Source: Antara News