Saturday, April 9, 2011

Asean to Build Infrastructure Projects

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states will launch an infrastructure fund later this year to finance infrastructure projects in the region, the Jakarta Post daily quoted an official as saying on Friday.

The acting head of the Indonesian Finance Ministry's fiscal policy department, Bambang Brodjonegoro, said Thursday that the 450 to 480 million U.S. dollars infrastructure fund would be launched in September this year, with Indonesia contributing 120 million dollars, the second-largest amount.

"We need leverage to fund infrastructure projects. Indonesia could obtain higher funding for projects than what we contribute," he said on the sidelines of the 15th ASEAN Finance Ministers' meeting at the Laguna Hotel in Nusa Dua of Bali province.

"The formation of the (infrastructure fund) body will be done in September. All ASEAN states have agreed and contributed to the formation of the fund and they agreed that this is an important issue for the region," Brodjonegoro said, adding that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) would also contribute to the fund.

Malaysia is the biggest contributor with 150 million dollars, followed by Indonesia and the ADB, whose contribution was not specified.

No comments: