Foreigners Invest In IKN Projects, Economists: No Problem, Realization Is A Must

Research Director of the Center of Reform on Economics (Core) Indonesia Piter Abdullah. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The government continues to accelerate the construction of the New State Capital (IKN) in East Kalimantan. This is because the project is considered to attract the interest of many parties to invest both domestically and abroad. The entry of foreign investors into the IKN project is considered not a problem.

This was conveyed by senior economist and Research Director of the Center of Reform on Economics (Core) Indonesia Piter Abdullah. According to him, IKN development requires investment from all parties.

"The government, BUMN, private and foreign. There are no restrictions. In fact, the largest is expected from the private sector, both domestic and foreign," he said when contacted by VOI, Sunday, March 13.

However, continued Piter, the main and most important thing is that the investment commitments of these investors must actually be realized.

"It doesn't matter if the investment is domestic or foreign," he said

Piter also reminded that when accepting foreign investors into government projects, a distinction must be made between debt and investment.

"In terms of investment, regardless of the foreign portion, there is no problem," he said.

Contacted separately, the Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) Bhima Yudhistira actually considered that there was no need for foreign investors to enter the new State Capital (IKN) project in East Kalimantan. For the sake of state security, said Bhima, it must be funded with state money.

"Because the context is IKN, it should be a full state budget, this is related to security and defense issues as well. There is no need for foreign investors," he said.

However, according to Bhima, if foreign investors want to invest, it can be done in projects outside the new capital city.

"Investors enter properties outside of IKN," he said.

For your information, one of the foreign investors, namely the Japanese venture capital company Softbank, has officially withdrawn from the new IKN development project in East Kalimantan. In fact, Softbank initially planned to invest up to 100 billion US dollars in the project. The decision was delivered on Friday, March 11, 2022.