Indonesia may stop issuing new permits to make cigarettes and process sugar, the country's Investment Coordinating Board chief said.
"The cigarette sector will be closed for new investment," Muhammad Lutfi, the coordinating board's chairman, told reporters in Jakarta yesterday, declining to say whether foreign companies will be barred from buying existing local makers. "The sugar refining industry will not see any additions from the current eight processors," he said.
Indonesia is reviewing a December 2007 presidential decree on investments, known as the "negative investment list."
The review and the changes to current rules may be completed within a month and submitted to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who will make the final decision, Lufti said.
The Malaysian Business News has the full story..
