Head of the Capital Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Franky Sibarani said in a written statement, said the choice of location was based mainly on the investment sectors .
The Japanese have invested mainly in the manufacturing sector, which has contributed much to the process of industrialization in the country, Franky said.
Around 87 percent of the Japanese investment projects in the 2010-2015 period were in the manufacturing industry, he said here on Monday.
He said the transport sector dominated Japanese investment accounting for US$7.5 billion of their total direct investment in the country in 2020-2015.
Other main sectors entered by Japanese investors are metal , machinery and electronic, chemical,pharmaceutical, industrial estate, office buildings and food processing industries.
"There are still wide room for Japanese investment in the manufacturing sector in Indonesia such as upstream oil and gas, chemical, rubber and telecommunication equipment industries ," Franky said.
He said currently Japanese investors began to diversify their business areas with expansion to housing and industrial estate development.;
Japanese investment in the two sectors surged 700 percent to US$519 million in 2015 from only US$71 million in the previous year.
He predicted that the position of Japan as one of the largest investing foreign countries in Indonesia would be stronger.
"With investment of US$14.9 billion , Japan contributed 10.2 percent to the total value of foreign investments in the country in 2010-2015," he said.
Based on data at BKPM, Japanese investment have tended to increase in the country in the past six years.
In 2010, Japanese investments were valued at US$713 million , The investment value shot up to US$1.5 billion in 2011 and up again to US$2.3 billion in 2012 and to a peak of US$4.7 billion in 2013.
In 2014, the Japanese investment dropped to US$2.7 billion in 2014, before rising again to US$2.8 billion in 2015.
In the period of 2010-2015, Japan was second in investment value after Singapore which had investments valued at US$31 billion.
The United States was in third place with investment valued at US$8.2 billion , followed by South Korea with investment of US$8 billion and Malaysia US$7.1 billion.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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