Gayatri Sulaiman and Stefanno Sulaiman

JAKARTA (Reuters – Indonesian foreign direct investment (FDI), rose 31.8% annually in the first quarter, according to the country’s investment ministry. The increase was driven by a larger rise in investments made in the resources processing sector.

Bahlil said that foreign direct investment climbed to 147.2 trillion Rupees ($10.22 Billion) during the January-March quarter. She also listed Singapore, Hong Kong, China and China among the top sources.

Inclusion of domestic sources, the total amount invested during this period soared 28.5% between January and March 2021 to 282.4 Trillion Rupees.

Investment in the banking or oil and natural gas sectors is not included in this ministry’s data.

Bahlil said that the business community was more aggressive with its capital spending in the latter part of the year. He predicted an increase in investment in the future.

“I am sure that the second quarter of this year will be even better. “We have a database, and it has shown an rise,” he said at a virtual conference.

He stated that investors have been happy with the regulatory changes in place, which include a 2020 law to streamline investment procedures.

The largest economy in Southeast Asia has tried to lure investors to its downstream industries, to extract more value from the region’s abundant natural resources.

In order to attract investors and build new smelters, Indonesia has banned nickel ore exports from 2020. The country also wants to establish an integrated electric vehicle market.

Bahlil claimed he didn’t know anything about the meeting between top Indonesian officials in Texas and Tesla (NASDAQ;) after Luhut Paandjaitan, senior minister of Indonesian affairs posted images on social media showing a meeting this week with Elon Musk from the U.S. automaker.

Over the years, Indonesian officials stated that Tesla had been looking into possible investments in a battery manufacturing plant. Tesla did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Bahlil also mentioned Indonesia’s plans for banning the export of unprocessed raw bauxite or tin, as an investment driver.

($1 = 14,408.0000 rupiah)