"Indonesia needs investment for infrastructure to meet public needs for its activities," the former Indonesian Finance Minister stated on the sidelines of a meeting of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) finance ministers here on Friday.
She made the statement when asked to comment on the Indonesian government`s policy of producing cheap and energy efficient cars.
During her tenure as Finance Minister of Indonesia, Sri Mulyani had focused on eradicating subsidies.
She pointed out that a lack of infrastructure support was the obstacle in the way of Indonesia boosting its economic growth, curbing inflation and reducing its current account deficit.
Mulyani further said that all countries in the world were confronted with the same problems, whether they were poor, developing or advanced.
Developing countries, she stated, needed US$1 trillion to US$ 2 trillion to support growth, increase productivity, alleviate poverty and improve people`s welfare.
In view of that, the Global Infrastructure Facility would bridge the long-term financing needs through fund availability for infrastructure development.
Indonesia`s current Finance Minister Chatib Basri had said earlier that Indonesia has chosen to focus on infrastructure development during the country`s APEC chairmanship.
"Indonesia will consistently lead efforts to enhance the profile of the infrastructure reform agenda in APEC, as well as other forums such as ASEAN and G20 and create this synergy," he said.
Basri added that in order to strengthen and maintain economic growth, growing economies needed to attract long-term capital for investment in their best infrastructure projects.
This would not only benefit the economy of the country where the investment was being made, but also pave the way for international long-term investors finding stable and profitable investment projects, he noted.
Reporting by Ahmad Buchori
(H-YH/INE/S012)
EDITED BY INE
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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