Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – Indonesia announced Tuesday that it would join BRICS' New Development Bank or NDB – about three months after the Southeast Asian country became a full-fledged member of the China-led bloc.
President Prabowo Subianto and NDB boss Dilma Rousseff met in Jakarta for some talks on the possibility of having Indonesia be part of the bank that has been lending money to BRICS members' development projects. Prabowo revealed that NDB had invited Indonesia to be its member – an offer that Jakarta had accepted after weighing its pros and cons.
"I have decided, on behalf of the Indonesian government, to join the NDB and follow the procedures, as well as the requirements given to us. Thank you for the invitation.... This new multilateral development bank can be a strong booster to accelerate our transformation strategy," Prabowo told a press briefing at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta.
Prabowo did not say for what purposes Indonesia would use the NDB money. However, international relations analyst Muhammad Habib had previously urged the Indonesian government to pursue regulatory changes to make sure that the NDB loans were more inclusive to the BRICS' new members.
Data showed that the lion's share of the disbursed loans had gone to the BRICS early members, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Egypt, which only joined BRICS last year, had asked NDB if it could borrow $200 million for an infrastructure project, but the proposal is still waiting for the bank to give its green light. NDB reported that it has approved $39 billion in financing to date.
Rousseff said that the NDB members had taken interest in Indonesia as it is part of the Global South – a term that refers to developing economies. The ex-Brazilian president claimed what set NDB apart from other international lenders is that the BRICS bank respects countries' sovereignty and priorities.
"Indonesia has a very different and interesting approach. [The country] has a long-term planning with a clear vision on what to do, as well as a medium-term plan.... [Prabowo] also has a list of 77 clearly established projects," Rousseff told reporters.
Rousseff was alluding to the list of 77 of the so-called "national strategic projects" that Prabowo had announced not long ago. The list sums up the priority projects that the government will focus on for the next five years. It includes Prabowo's signature school feeding program, palm oil production chain development, and waste-to-energy generation, to name a few. The NDB president also went on to talk about the lender's interest in renewable energy and Indonesia's ongoing efforts to produce biodiesel, which includes palm oil-derived fuel.
"All BRICS countries have an interest to have Indonesia in the [NDB] bank. Indonesia is in many other multilateral development banks.... I assure the president that we [the NDB] want to be the best," Rousseff said.
NDB – which has $100 billion in initial authorized capital – mainly funds transport, logistics, and energy infrastructure projects. Non-BRICS states may access the bank's funding as seen in Bangladesh' proposals. But again, all four of Dhaka's projects are still waiting for NDB's approval.
The NDB's membership is open to UN economies. The bank brings together the five BRICS early members, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Egypt. Uruguay is a prospective NDB member.
BRICS started out with Brazil, Russia, India, China, and eventually South Africa, all which gave the group its acronym. It later expanded with Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE, and Indonesia.
Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/indonesia-decides-to-join-brics-new-development-ban