Jokowi Receives IMF Director Christine Lagarde Visit Today
26 February 2018 11:54 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi will receive the visit of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Director Christine Lagarde at the Merdeka Palace today, Monday, February 26. Lagarde has come to Indonesia in September 2015.
Through the official Twitter account IMF @IMFNewes, Lagarde expressed her joy to come back to Indonesia. "I am very excited to return to Indonesia to visit your beautiful country, meet the people and enjoy a very rich and diverse culture because I love Indonesia," she said on Thursday, February 22.
She said that this visit is important because Indonesia will host IMF and World Bank annual meeting in October. "This is an important moment for Indonesia and IMF," Lagarde said.
House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon from the Gerindra Party commented on Lagarde’s arrival via his Twitter account. He said the government had an Inlander mentality. "The IMF is an institution that ruined Indonesia's economy 20 years ago, now the government will host IMF with the cost of Rp1 Trillion," he said yesterday, February 25.
The price Rp1 trillion, Fadli stated, is the state budget to finance the IMF and World Bank annual meetings later.
Previously, Coordinating Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the annual meeting of IMF-World Bank 2018 in Bali will take a budget of Rp868 billion. The amount consists of several details such as the hotel rental. "From the amount, Rp555 billion is used, while Rp243 billion is for renting the hotel," said Luhut at Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, Bali on Friday, August 25, 2017.
Luhut claimed the government actually spent Rp655 billion for infrastructure and cultural events. "For the hotel, we will later use BI funds which will then be reimbursed by the people who stayed," he stated.
The IMF-World Bank annual meeting is a regular meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors from 189 countries to attend, and discuss the financial sector and the world economy. It is estimated that 15 thousand people will be present during this meeting.
DIKO OKTARA