"We are optimistic that Indonesia is still an attractive place for foreign investment. Moreover, the interest benchmark remains high," he said here on Monday.
Hendiarto said the rupiah which continued appreciate to a level far higher than the macro-economic target in the state budget at Rp9,250, indicated that foreign investors` interest in Asian markets, especially in Indonesia, remained high.
The value of the rupiah now reached Rp8,550 per US dollar, up from the previously Rp8,575 level. Rupiah is expected to reach Rp8,500 per dollar.
He said that foreign players still wanted to invest their big funds in the domestic market because the benefits they could reap were still relatively high.
Moreover, the fact that the U.S. central bank (the Fed) still imposed low interest rates at almost zero percent attracted investors to focus more of their attention on Asian markets.
However, this condition should be watched out, particularly if the Fed tried to attract foreign investors to the U.S. market by raising its interest rates, he said.
According to him, foreign players would enter the Indonesian market in the second half of 2011 if Indonesia`s economic data pointed out that the economy had grown by 6.5 percent.
These factors will provide better support for foreign investors to continue placing their funds in the domestic market, he said.
He said Indonesia`s potential was still more attractive than that of other countries, such as the United States which had begun to show economic improvement, yet it was still still relatively small.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
