Indonesia

As smartphones become more commonplace in Indonesia, apps are enjoying a surge in popularity, suggesting that e-commerce – for both goods and services – is filling market voids and strengthening its economic foothold. 

Efforts to spur growth in 2015 through higher spending and major infrastructure projects produced mixed results for Indonesia, in a year dominated by weaker commodity prices. 

Planned overhauls to Indonesia’s infrastructure are moving ahead, as a raft of new power and transport projects lead the national drive to achieve middle-income status. 

Plans by a Chinese-led private investment group to pour $5bn into a new West Java industrial park signal that the Indonesian government’s efforts to attract additional foreign direct investment (FDI) may be yielding the desired results.

After a boom in commercial development in Jakarta, there are concerns that a combination of oversupply, rising prices and slower economic growth could dampen demand, though serviced office space in the CBD and developments in secondary cities continue to offer opportunities.

Incentives such as import tax reductions and feed-in tariffs could help lead Indonesia’s drive to boost investment in the country’s underachieving renewable energy sector.