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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian state-owned enterprises have invested some 2.2 billion US dollars abroad each year, the Indonesian Agency for Outbound Investment Development (InaGoInvest) said in Jakarta on Thursday.

InaGoInvest Director Guspiabri Sumowiguno said that the amount is based on a Bank Indonesia estimate that the capital outflow from Indonesia in the first quarter of 2008 reached 3.7 billion US dollars.

Guspiabri has estimated that 100 to 150 Indonesian business companies, 15 percent of whom state-owned enterprises, made investments in other countries, while the rest are national private companies mostly engaged in the sectors of natural resources, manufacturing and services.

The state enterprises include state oil and gas company PT Pertamina in Iraq, Russia and Libya, state petrochemical company Petrokimia Gresik in Morocco, and state telecommunications firm in Ecuador, Nigeria and Cambodia.

Sumowiguno also said that overseas investment has good prospects and potentials which can be contributed to Indonesia`s economic development.

"Overseas investment has a high potential of absorbing Indonesian workers, especially skilled ones," he said. Besides, he added, those companies also have the potential of opening up opportunities for local industrial enterprises to enter the international market.

"Therefore, it would be necessary to have a blueprint on investment for both public and private companies, which might enable them to make a contribution of national economic growth," he said.

The companies cannot be restricted in expanding their business operations to other countries, he said, although the government had succeeded in bringing about a conducive investment climate at home. This, he added, is a natural and logical consequence of globalization and the government`s policy on free foreign currency flow.

"To enable the state to benefit from the expansion of the domestic businesses, the government needs to issue binding regulations, but not too demanding, like those on employment of locals, or the use of raw materials," he said.

He also explained that there has been an impression that overseas investment had an adverse effect on the economy. "This incorrect impression must be eliminated by the blueprint," he said.

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