| Hello again. Hope you have missed me and my newsletters. Today I want to talk about investment opportunities in Indonesia. Whether you wish to marry and Indonesian and live here or are just interested in investment opportunities, this in formation may be useful to you. Before I get to this, I must explain the Indonesian currency and money exchanging to you. Here they use Rupiah. It takes some getting used to because the denominations are so high. For example on the day of writing this, one US dollar will get you 12,300 Rupiah. As you can see, it doesn’t take much to become a millionaire here :-) The largest denomination note is 100,000, just under $10, so if you want to carry a few thousand dollars worth around with you, you may need a suitcase! While I am on the subject, when you DO visit here and carry foreign cash with you, make sure that the notes are new looking. For some reason, the banks here, even the major ones, are very fussy about the condition of paper money and may refuse to exchange dirty notes. It is also sometimes quite frustrating to change Travellers Checks. I spent several hours over a few days in one of the banks attempting to change UK Cooks checks without success. The client even called his bank in the UK who in turn called the bank here and assured them that the checks were good. Didn’t make any difference! Eventually our friend’s bank cancelled the checks and sent the money to him via Western Union. Talking about THAT company, I do not recommend them. First of all their transfer rates are extremely high and then, on top of that they use the tourist rate of exchange which is terrible. This brings me to another point. NEVER exchange money at exchange kiosks, even the ones who claim “No Commission.”... Yeah Right! My husband exchanged some pounds for Rupiah in the UK but never used them here. When he returned, he exchanged the Rupiah back into pounds and ended up losing 30% of the initial value! ATMs are all over the country here and you can use your foreign credit cards. They DO charge you something of course but it’s a fast and convenient way to get your funds. Once you trust us, you can transfer money to my bank account and I will give you the funds in Rupiah. I do not charge for this...REALLY Commission Free. :-) Now, on to invesments. To begin with, there are some very talented artisans in Indonesia. There are many products produced here at about one tenth of the UK prices. These include furniture (including so-called “Rustic” and antique repros), wood carvings, crafts, art, bird cages, shoes, Batik and silver jewelry. Of course, shipping a large item would be too expensive but if you are or wish to be an importer and purchase by a container full, then it is feasible. Gold jewelry stores do well here. My husband tells me that the retail price of 20 carat gold here is about the same as 9 carat in the UK. An interesting aspect of the Indonesian culture is that many people buy gold when they have money as a kind of insurance. When they need funds they sell it back to the store at a slight discount. From the stores point of view, they make money coming and going, so to speak. There is a shortage of beef in Indonesia. Muslims, like Jews do not eat pork. Thus, breeding cattle is a lucrative business. Many people buy calves, feed them at home for a year and sell them for twice the cost. The feed is free; they just go out and cut the grass. Goats are eaten a lot here and you can make money breeding them also. Chickens of course are the mainstay feed wise but there are some problems with chicken flu here. The only way to make money with these is on a very large scale and, if the flu hits you, you can get wiped out. Luckily we don’t hear of any cases where we live but there is always the possibility. Farming can be profitable. A hectare of land costs between $10,000 and $30,000. The main crops are corn and rice for which there is always a demand. Labour rates are very low and it is easy to find workers here. Usually they are not paid until the crop is sold. There is a lot of money in housing. Here the banks charge a very high annual rate...from 15% to about 30%. Houses are usually financed for at least 5 years, sometimes 15. Thus, if you have sufficient capital, you can make money building houses and a lot more by doing your own financing! Renting property however is a waste of time as the rentals are so low. There are zillions of motorbikes in Indonesia. Thus, anything to do with them, like replacement parts, selling, cleaning or servicing will always be profitable. Servicing is fairly low priced here so a large operation would be desirable. An inter-city coach makes about $100 a day. Good business but it would take a couple of years to get back your initial vehicle cost. Mini buses don’t make that much but a fleet of them could. The above is just a sample of the various possibilities here. If you come to visit us, we will show you around and let you make your own decision. Hope at least you found the information interesting. So, until the next time..All the best to you...Yuyun |