JAKARTA: Indonesia on Tuesday introduced more stimulus measures to woo desperately needed investment, in its latest bid to boost the sliding rupiah and breathe new life into the slowing economy.

It was the second time this month that Southeast Asia’s top economy has unveiled steps to battle a sharp slowdown, as it comes under pressure with other emerging markets due to a strengthening US economy and turmoil in China.

“We are making (investing in Indonesia) as attractive as possible,” said Chief Econo­mics Minister Darmin Nasu­tion, announcing the latest measures along with several other ministers. “We must fix, simplify, make it cheaper.”

New measures announced Tuesday included slashing the time taken to process investment permits from at least eight days to just three hours, with processing for permits in mining and geothermal projects in forested areas to be cut from up to four years to about 15 days.

Published in Dawn September 30th, 2015

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