Foreign direct investment into Indonesia increased to a record high in the fourth quarter, easing the economic slowdown caused by a downturn in exports, a report from the country's Investment Coordinating Board said Tuesday.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) climbed 22.9 percent on an annual basis to IDR56.8 trillion in the three months ended December.

The strong inflow from external sources was driven mainly by the metal, machinery and electronic industry, the mining industry, the transport, storage and communications industry, the food Industry and the motor vehicles and other transport equipment industry, the agency said.

"A series of improvement of investment climate in both central and local government's services such as the integrated investment services, and various incentives for investment as well as an integrated promotion have been responded positively by domestic and foreign investors," Investment Coordinating Board Chairman Muhamad Chatib Basri said.

Overall investment, including both from domestic and foreign entities, advanced 18.7 percent annually to IDR83.3 trillion during the quarter. In the whole of 2012, total investment jumped 24.6 percent compared to the previous year, data showed

Looking ahead, the government aims to achieve its investment realization target of IDR390.3 trillion in 2013, which is higher by 37.7 percent compared to 2012, the report said.

RTTNews