A Golden Opportunity for Indonesia

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Posing for a photograph ahead of a press conference at the closing ceremony of the 2018 Annual Meetings of the IMF-World Bank Group in Nusa Dua, Bali, Sunday (14/10/2018) are: (from left to right) World Bank President Jim Yong-kim, Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo. Many circles consider Indonesia to have been successful in holding the meetings, which were attended by 36,619 participants from 189 countries.

NUSA DUA, KOMPAS — The 2018 Annual Meetings of the IMF-World Bank Group have ended. Indonesia, as the host country, can take benefits from the event, such as improvements to its global image.

Hosting the 2018 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank Group was a golden opportunity for Indonesia. Aside from the successful organization of the event and its benefits to the local economy, it also helped lure direct and indirect investment.

In addition, which is no less important, the meetings also helped improve Indonesia\'s image.

Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, at a press conference at the closing of the annual meetings in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Sunday (10/14/2018), said the overall organization of the event’s activities ran smoothly. A total of 36,619 people attended the event.

“A total of 2,500 meetings were held, both small, medium and large sessions. The results of the meeting not only benefit the international community but also Indonesia,” he said.

Indonesia managed to pocket investment of US$13.5 billion or equivalent to Rp 202.5 trillion through 14 state-owned companies. The investment will be used to develop infrastructure.

Of the total investment, 80 percent of them involve strategic partnerships between the state-owned companies and the investors. The remaining are in the form of investment through the capital market and project financing.

Indonesia, especially Bali, also will always be regarded internationally as the birthplace of a number of agreements and references for the 189 member countries of the IMF and World Bank.

The agreements and references include the Bali Fintech Charter containing 12 principles of the financial technology (fintech) development, financing collaboration (blended finance) and the principles of waqaf as well as waqaf-based sukuk or Islamic bond.

A number of bilateral and multilateral meetings were also held amid the series of annual meetings. Bank Indonesia (BI) held bilateral meetings with a number of central banks, such as the central banks of the United States, Singapore, China and the United Kingdom, to discuss global risks and efforts to overcome them.

Indonesia also attended a G-20 meeting that discussed alternative infrastructure financing. BI Governor Perry Warjiyo said Indonesia provided input during the meetings.

In the G-20 forum, for example, Indonesia supported efforts to provide infrastructure financing through the implementation of the Roadmap to Infrastructure as an Asset Class and some guidelines for implementation. Through these guidelines, the projects are expected to obtain funding non-bank sources so that it can be a solution to close the infrastructure financing gap.

“BI also welcomed Bali Fintech Agenda which produced the Bali Fintech Charter as an effort to ensure

the benefits of technology development can also be enjoyed by the community,” Perry said.

Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya estimated the government would collect Rp 1.1 trillion from the tourist sector. The national committee has offered 2,600 tour packages to the delegates since the first day of the annual meetings. Every day, the government offers 600 tour packages, both in Bali and in cities throughout Indonesia.

“The Rp 1.1 trillion is just from the tourist sector. The National Development Planning Agency estimates the effect on various sectors could reach Rp. 5.9 trillion,” Arief said.

Islamic finance

BI, together with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), developed a number of principles for the broader and more sustainable use of waqaf. Through the social basis, it is hoped that Islamic finance can contribute more to the domestic economy so that it can become part of global finance.

A total of 29 points of agreement, ranging from a legal umbrella to risk management, were defined as international waqaf management standards at the annual meetings in Bali on Sunday.

IDB vice president Mohammed Nouri Jouini emphasized the importance of developing sharia principles to become part of the global economy. (HEN/MED/DIM)