Bahlil Requires Banking And Financial Institutions To Finance Downstreaming Programs

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia requires non-bank banking institutions and financial institutions to finance downstream programs.

Bahlil said this was in accordance with Presidential Decree Number 1 of 2025.

Just so you know, President Prabowo Subianto has just issued Presidential Decree No. 1 concerning the National Energy Downstream and Resilience Acceleration Task Force chaired by Bahlil Lahadalia.

"Our banking, non-bank financial institutions, must be willing to take part in financing downstream investment projects," Bahlil told the media crew at the ESDM Ministry Building, Friday, January 10.

Bahlil said that the banking and financial institutions in question are not only limited to state-owned banks or Himbara, but all banks including foreign banks operating in Indonesia.

"Everything. As long as he wants to operate in Republic of Indonesia, he follows the rules of the game in the Republic of Indonesia," continued Bahlil.

When asked about the low interest proposal for the downstream project, Bahlil said that actually the downstream project financing has a good level of investment efficiency, aka the internal rate of return (IRR).

"The average is above 11-12 percent. If 11-12 percent of IRR I don't think there needs to be interest intervention, how good is this," he said.

He gave an example of one of the nickel smelter projects that produced Nickel Pig Iron (NPI) which returned on investment or Break Even Point (BEP) in the 4th year of operation, so there was no need for interest intervention.

Furthermore, Bahlil also said that the government is trying to create downstream project financing sources outside the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN), such as financing carried out by banking or non-banking institutions.

Bahlil hopes that the APBN can focus on other programs, such as free nutritious food, health matters, infrastructure, and others.