Jakarta (ANTARA) - Investment Minister Rosan Roeslani has said that with Indonesia consistently implementing the downstream policy to boost added value and national economic competitiveness, investment realization is clocking continued growth.

"The performance of investment realization in the third quarter of 2024 is greatly influenced by the downstream policy that has been consistently implemented by the government," he said in a statement released on Wednesday.

In line with the World Bank's projection of Indonesia's economy growing in the range of 5.0 percent in 2024, he said, investment realization has shown a positive trend.

According to the minister, downstreaming is vital for investment growth because it could increase added value and create jobs.

"Downstream plays an important role in increasing investment in Indonesia. Most importantly, it allows us to have products with added value and create jobs," Roeslani explained.

In the third quarter of 2024, the Investment Ministry recorded investment realization of Rp431.48 trillion (US$1 = Rp15,513), an increase of 15.24 percent compared to the year-ago period.

The downstream sector contributed Rp91.51 trillion or 21.2 percent to the total realization in the quarter.

The figure not only contributed to the fulfillment of 26.15 percent of the total investment target in 2024, but also absorbed 650,172 Indonesian workers.

"We see that this (downstream) figure is quite consistent, both quarterly, annually, and five years, always above 20 percent. This shows that the downstream policy implemented by President Joko Widodo has had a very positive impact," Roeslani said.

Domestic direct investment in the third quarter increased by 11.62 percent to Rp198.83 trillion from Rp178.20 trillion the previous year.

Meanwhile, foreign direct investment rose 18.55 percent from Rp196.20 trillion to Rp232.65 trillion, with FDI contribution reaching 53.92 percent of the total investment.

The top five investors in Indonesia were Singapore (USD5.50 billion), Hong Kong (USD2.24 billion), China (USD1.86 billion), Malaysia (USD0.99 billion), and the United States (USD0.84 billion).

Based on business sectors, the largest share of the investment came from the transportation, warehouse, and telecommunications industry (Rp58.04 trillion), basic metal industry (Rp55.87 trillion), mining (Rp44.64 trillion), chemical and pharmaceutical industry (Rp31.61 trillion), as well as food industry (Rp31.30 trillion).

Roeslani further said that in line with the strong achievement in Q3, the cumulative investment realization during the January–September 2024 period also showed positive performance.

The achievement indicates that Indonesia is on track to achieve its investment target by the end of 2024, based on the investment realization in the first nine months.

"The realization has reached Rp1.261 trillion, an increase of almost 20 percent yoy (year on year). The year-end target of Rp1.650 trillion has been achieved by 76.4 percent. In fact, if we talk about the strategic plan target, it has been exceeded," he informed.

Similar to Q3, the January–September 2024 period was also influenced by the downstream sector, which added Rp272.91 trillion or 21.6 percent to the total investment.

During the 10 years of President Widodo's administration, investment realization reached Rp9,117.4 trillion, with worker absorption recorded at 13,836,775.

The figure exceeds the target of the Ministry of Investment's Strategic Plan since 2021, indicating the success of the policies implemented in creating a conducive investment climate.

"In the last 10 years, economic and political stability has increased investor confidence to invest in Indonesia. Investment is a long-term commitment, so stability is very important," Roeslani emphasized.

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Translator: Muhammad Harianto, Yashinta Difa
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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