After Green Bond, Sri Mulyani Aims For Issuance Of State Securities From The Blue Economy Marine Sector

Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani. (Irfan Meidianto/VOI)

JAKARTA - The government through the Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani emphasized that Indonesia continues to make exploration efforts to present new sources of financing in accordance with the principles of sustainability.

In fact, the Minister of Finance admitted that he received direct direction from President Joko Widodo to be able to enter into more creative instruments, such as optimizing the wealth of natural resources.

"The president has even asked us to look at the potential aspects of the sea so that the blue economy becomes very important," he said when he was a speaker at Indonesia's SDGs Annual Conference 2021 which was broadcast virtually, Tuesday, November 23.

According to the Minister of Finance, the government has a strong concern in presenting environmentally friendly development that can improve people's welfare.

"We combine everything between our concern for the environment with concern for the conditions and situations of the people who need to improve their welfare," he said.

Furthermore, the state treasurer also revealed that the goal of releasing blue financing instruments is in accordance with the spirit of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

“Of course we will continue to develop various SDG-based financing instruments. If previously there was a green bond, we will also develop various programs, both mitigation and adaptation, in order to make Indonesia more resilient to climate change," he explained.

For information, green bonds are one of the financing instruments (debt) that are included in the SGD scheme. Meanwhile, blue bonds are a relatively new form of sustainability bond, namely debt instruments issued to support investment in a healthy ocean and blue economy.

For information, data released by the Ministry of Finance states that Indonesia is one of the leading countries that issue green bonds, especially those combined with the sharia system, namely green sukuk.

It was stated that the global green sukuk with a share of foreign investors managed to obtain funding of US$3.5 billion or equivalent to Rp.49.7 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 14,202). Then, retail green sukuk with a domestic market share of Rp6.88 trillion.