Jakarta seeks China funds to boost growth as FDI stagnates

Jakarta

INDONESIA will seek more funds from China to help drive economic growth after foreign investment stagnated last quarter.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) was US$7.4 billion in July through September, unchanged from the previous quarter and down from US$7.5 billion a year earlier, according to the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board. In rupiah, it rose 18 per cent from a year earlier. Total investment, including from domestic sources, climbed 17 per cent in rupiah terms from a year earlier, and the government expects to exceed its full-year target of 519.5 trillion rupiah (S$53 billion), it said.

President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, reshuffled his cabinet and issued a series of policy measures in recent months to try to remove obstacles to doing business, after the economy grew in the second quarter at the slowest pace since 2009. Budget spending has picked up in recent months after a slow start to the ye…