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Indonesia
This Week in AsiaEconomics

Will Indonesia’s plan to join Brics bank lead to heavier debt burden?

With Indonesia having to pay to join the New Development Bank, it should tap foreign investors for project financing instead, analysts say

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Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto (right) attends a session of the Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro in July. Prabowo says Indonesia intends to join the Brics-led New Development Bank. Photo: AFP
Resty Woro Yuniar
Indonesia’s plan to join the Brics-led New Development Bank (NDB) and fulfil a payment requirement for membership has spurred a debate on whether the move is feasible given the country’s strained finances to fund President Prabowo Subianto’s priority projects.

Earlier this year, Prabowo announced that Indonesia was planning to join the NDB “to boost the national development transformation” after he met the bank’s chairwoman, Dilma Rousseff, in Jakarta.

“The Indonesian government has decided to join the New Development Bank and will comply with all procedures and requirements,” Prabowo said on March 25.

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Indonesia officially joined Brics – a 10-member grouping of mostly emerging economies founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China – in January.

One of the requirements for joining NDB is to place an undisclosed sum of money to buy its shares, which can be paid in seven instalments.

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Giving an update on the matter, Chief Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto said last week that Indonesia had received approval to “pay the paid-in capital”. He did not reveal the sum, only saying “there are calculations”, according to a report by the Jakarta Globe news outlet.

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