Indonesia's foreign direct investment hit a record US$20 billion last year, with Singapore, Japan and the United States among the Southeast Asian nation's top investors, the trade minister said Thursday.

Gita Wirjawan said the figure was "a new historic level" and an 18.4 percent hike over 2010 as foreign money flowed into the country's fast-growing economy.

The record figure comes a day after Moody's Investors Service restored Indonesia's investment grade sovereign credit rating, weeks after a similar move by rival ratings agency Fitch.

Indonesia, Moody's said, had earned the bump following steps to bring down its debt-to-gross domestic product ratio as well as having a "well-managed financial system."

Indonesia's total investment in 2011, from both domestic and foreign sources, was 251.3 trillion rupiah (US$27.6 billion), surpassing the government's 240 trillion rupiah target, Wirjawan said.

Foreign investment accounted for about 70 percent of the total, he said, adding that offshore money flows also accounted for about 67 percent of 400,000 jobs created last year in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Foreign capital flows dipped 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter, the minister told reporters.

FDI in the transport, storage and communications sectors totalled US$3.8 billion, followed by US$3.6 billion in mining and US$1.9 billion in electricity, gas and water supply.

Singapore led the list of foreign investors with US$5.1 billion, followed by Japan and the United States with about US$1.5 billion each. The Netherlands and South Korea invested US$1.4 billion and US$1.2 billion respectively.

channelnewsasia.com