JAKARTA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia must increase ownership ceilings for foreign investment and liberalize state-owned monopolies to resolve infrastructure bottlenecks, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying on Friday.

    The organization on its first assessment report on the country's economy said that foreign direct investment rules here were more restrictive than in most OECD other countries, making Indonesia's ratio of Foreign Direct Investment to GDP among the lowest in Southeast Asia.

    "We therefore think it would be a good idea to liberalize foreign ownership restrictions further to encourage foreign investment in sectors where barriers remain," OECD Secretary-General Jose Angel Gurria said on Thursday.

    He said that liberalizing state monopolies in key industries would produce a large potential pay-off in the form of more business opportunities for the private sector and help resolve infrastructure bottlenecks.

    Despite recent deregulation, he said, the government is currently still the major player in various business sectors, including manufacturing, banking and insurance, transportation and retail distribution.

    "Further liberalization will bring more investment and lower prices for consumers," he said.

    However, he added, to achieve such goals there had to be an effective regulator framework that combines price liberalization and easy entry with independent regulators that can protect consumer rights.