TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-Indonesia on Thursday, February 11, eased foreign investment restrictions for dozens of industries in what President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has described as a "Big Bang" liberalization of Southeast Asia's largest economy.
Indonesia relaxed rules for international firms in various sectors, including agriculture, healthcare facilities, restaurants and movie theaters.
This was the first revision since 2014 to the so-called Negative Investment List, which spells out the sectors to which foreign investment restrictions apply.
Thursday's announcement was not all about opening up Indonesia's industries, however. Twenty sectors, including low-tech construction, were added to the list of industries with foreign investment restrictions.
The following are changes to the Negative Investment List for major industries:
100 PCT OPEN TO FOREIGN INVESTMENT
- Toll roads
- Restaurants, bars
- Film making
- Film distribution
- Cinemas (required to show Indonesian films at least 60 pct of their screen time)
- Cold storage
- Rubber industry
- Non-toxic waste management
MAJORITY FOREIGN STAKE
- Healthcare facilities such as medical instruments (67 pct)
- Telecommunications networks and services (67 pct)
- Warehousing (67 pct)
- Consulting services in construction (67 pct of the value of project over 10 billion rupiah ($742,942))
SECTORS OPENED UP FOR THE FIRST TIME
- Installation of high-voltage utilisation (49 pct)
- Land transport (49 pct)
- Healthcare facilities such as medical instruments (67 pct)
- Film industry including distribution (100 pct)
REUTERS
