Singapore Becomes the Largest Foreign Investor Country in Indonesia, Bahlil Suspects Many of the Sources are Indonesian Citizens

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Minister of Investment/Head of BKPM Bahlil Lahadalia said the contribution of foreign investment (PMA) in the second quarter of 2022 reached Rp 163.2 trillion or 54.0 percent. That number increased 39.7 percent over the same period in 2021.

The largest contribution of FDI investment during the second quarter came from Singapore (3.1 billion US dollars), China (2.3 billion US dollars), Hong Kong (1.4 billion US dollars), Japan (0.9 billion US dollars), and the United States (0.8 billion US dollars) .

However, Bahlil actually suspects that the realization of Singapore’s PMA investment funds will mostly come from Indonesian citizens (WNI). The reason is that many Indonesian citizens deposit their funds in the country.

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“Which countries enter Indonesia, the first is Singapore. Once I say yes, I’m not sure about this. Singapore is mostly money from Indonesia and part of Singapore is used as a hub. I’m still looking for this information how this can be done It was detected that Indonesian citizens’ money was placed there,” he said when it was broadcast virtually, Wednesday (20/7/2022).

Bahlil also admitted that when he was a businessman, many of his funds were placed in the Lion Country. However, since there tax amnesty and now serving as a minister, the funds have been withdrawn to the country.

“What is clear is that my money is no longer there. When I was an entrepreneur there was, now it is no longer there because I have participated in the tax amnesty. When I became an entrepreneur, there were many pencak silats,” he said.

Furthermore, said Bahlil, Japan’s position this year succeeded in shifting Korea’s position in the realization of FDI investment.

“Japan has replaced Korea, in the first quarter of Korea (into the top five FDI). It’s also good for Korea, Japan, and China, we continue to compete on how to realize the investment,” he said.

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Meanwhile, the realization of FDI from the United States (US) has always been in the top five. Bahlil admitted that persuading Uncle Sam’s country to invest in Indonesia was not easy.

“What’s interesting is America. America has consistently been in the top five, at first it was a bit difficult. But this is related to their industry at the Freeport smelting, then Air Product has started to run partially in East Kalimantan and South Sumatra,” he said again.

Cumulatively in the first semester of 2022 or the January-June period, the realization of FDI investment was IDR 310.4 trillion or 53.1 percent, while the PMDN was IDR 274.2 trillion (46.9 percent).

For the country of origin of FDI investment in the first semester, Singapore was in first place with a value of Rp 6.7 billion US dollars or 31.1 percent. Followed by China at 3.6 billion US dollars, Hong Kong 2.9 billion US dollars, Japan 1.7 billion US dollars, and America 1.4 billion US dollars.

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