Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, reported that she discussed enhancing Indonesia's position within the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) during a meeting with AIIB President Jin Liqun.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 2024 World Bank-IMF Spring Meeting in Washington, D.C., United States, from April 17 to 19.

"We discussed several aspects related to Indonesia's cooperation with AIIB, including bolstering our position and the energy transition mechanism (ETM)," she said in a statement released on Monday.

During their meeting, Sri expressed support for restructuring the AIIB's organization, considering it a proactive approach for the institution that continues to grow and aims to enhance operational effectiveness.

"We both hope that the plan will not only improve institutional effectiveness and efficiency but also strengthen AIIB's role in supporting infrastructure development projects in Indonesia and other regions," she emphasized.

At the IMF Fiscal Forum meeting, Sri participated as a panelist alongside IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath, Chilean Finance Minister Mario Marcel, and European Commission Director General for Economic and Financial Affairs Maarten Verwey.

The IMF Fiscal Forum was part of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meeting series.

During the forum, Indrawati shared Indonesia's experience in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing that fiscal policy cannot be divorced from discretion, including in times of crisis.

As an example, she higlighted that Indonesia's state budget deficit capped at 3 percent during the pandemic, a measure implemented for three years.

Indonesia maintained a stricter approach to discretion compared to other countries, allowing a maximum state budget deficit of 6 percent, while some nations permitted up to 10 percent.

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Translator: Imamatul S, Kenzu
Editor: Anton Santoso
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