TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The head of National Development Planning Agency, Minister Andrinof Chaniago, stepped up to clarify President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s statement, during the 60th AAC summit, asking Asian-African countries not to depend on International Financial Institutions.
According to Andrinof, the statement was to boost Asian-African countries’ confidence in working their way to the economic independence.
“It means economically independent, including in terms of financing,” Andrinof said on Sunday, April 26, 2015 in Padang, West Sumatra.
Andrinof explained that Indonesia still needs the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) since the state budget is not sufficient enough to build the country’s infrastructure. Moreover, Indonesia is still indebted to the three financial institutions.
According to Andrinof, the debt can be settled provided that Indonesia’s economy grows by above 8 percent in 15 years. China, Andrinof said, has managed to achieve 9 percent growth for over the last 30 years resulting in large amount of foreign exchange reserves.
Andrinof added that Jokowi’s administration is committed to realize realistic and controlled borrowing by setting a threshold for loans. Jokowi also called on the state-owned enterprises to efficiently use the fund sourced from loans.
ANDRI EL FARUQI