the best time to invest in indonesia

Jokowi tells business leaders at dialogue that time is ripe for brave investors to venture in 

Indonesia is at the end of a commodities boom and in the midst of a cyclical downturn, but brave investors who venture in will "reap great profit", Indonesian President Joko Widodo said yesterday.

Mr Joko told those gathered at the Singapore-Indonesia business dialogue in Shangri-La Hotel:

"Today, we are once again confronting challenging times in Indonesia... The world looks full of uncertainty and risk.

"What does it all mean? It means that today is the time to invest - the best time to invest."

He urged the more than 150 business leaders at the event - organised by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Singapore Business Federation - to "invest early" in Asean's largest economy, where "a new economic cycle is beginning".

The President added: "The boom of commodities has come to an end. The boom of emerging markets has come to an end.

"But the social media revolution has begun. The smartphone revolution has begun. Around the world, around the region, and yes - also in Indonesia."

Mr Joko, 54, recalled that when the Asian financial crisis plunged Indonesia into a terrible crisis in 1997, many brave investors - Singaporeans among them - stayed invested.

"Today, those investors have made really huge profits," he said.

In an interview with The Straits Times ahead of his state visit to Singapore, Mr Joko challenged the market consensus when he said that the Indonesian economy could grow more than 5 per cent in this half of the year.

Read more on www.straitstimes.com