Receives World Bank Audience, Coordinating Minister Airlangga Says He Can Support To Restore The Economy

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto (center) when meeting with representatives of the World Bank in Jakarta (Photo: Doc. Coordinating Ministry for the Economy)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto received an official visit from a World Bank representative at his office.

Airlangga said that the international financial institution discussed the priority of government programs during the pandemic and the World Bank's support for the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy in national economic recovery.

“The World Bank said that coordination between health and financial policy makers, multilateral financial financial institutions, and global health institutions needs to be improved. The multilateral approach to financing extensive immunization as a global public good based on multi-sectoral domestic and international collaboration also needs to be strengthened," he said in a press statement, Friday, February 11.

According to Airlangga, the current situation requires more adequate, sustainable and coordinated pandemic PPR (prevention, preparedness, and response) financing.

"We also discussed the contribution of the G20 to the global pooling resources mechanism, including technical, financial, and expertise that can be accessed by all countries, especially low income countries in pre, during, and after the health crisis," he said.

In addition, Airlangga also discussed the issue of energy transition through carbon trading and an Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) that is fair and affordable without placing too heavy a burden on society, industry, and state finances.

For this, the Indonesian government is said to have collaborated with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) by launching ETM from coal to renewable energy.

"In this ETM scheme, ADB and the government jointly conduct a comprehensive feasibility study that focuses on the optimal business model by utilizing commercial capital, donor governments, and philanthropists for the transition to decarbonization," he explained.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga hopes that there will be an energy transition model that can be used as a pilot so that it can be replicated to attract investors to participate in this energy transition scheme.

Meanwhile, related to the G20 Joint Finance Health Task Force, a Task Force led jointly by Indonesia and Italy, assisted by the Secretariat at WHO and supported by the World Bank.

"Therefore, the World Bank is expected to be able to formulate a policy on how to develop a sustainable financing mechanism for global health," said Airlangga.