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'Show me the money': RI frustrated with green financing deadlock
Last year, the US and Japan led the commitment to give $20 billion in loans and grants for Indonesia's energy transition process through the JETP agreement.
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The coal-fired Suralaya power station in Banten. (Antara/Asep Fathulrahman)
C
oordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan has expressed his frustration over a lack of clarity on United States commitments to provide funds it has pledged to Indonesia to help the country move away from fossil fuels.
At the Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Bali last year, Indonesia received pledges amounting to US$20 billion in a five-year period from developed countries and global private lenders through the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).
The JETP is a partnership led by the US and Japan to help the energy transition in developing countries. According to a US Treasury official the deal with Indonesia was “the single largest climate finance transaction or partnership ever”.
Indonesia’s figure far surpassed that of South Africa, which negotiated $8.5 billion, and Vietnam $15 billion.
However, months have passed and the availability of the funds remains unclear, according to Minister Luhut, who said he had traveled to Washington to meet John Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, to follow up on the commitment.
"When I presented [the commitment], they said yes to it. Then I asked ‘where is the money?’ They just ‘Ao! Ao!’ [stuttering, cannot provide a direct answer]," Luhut said on Tuesday, as quoted by Bisnis.com.
"If you [the US] offer us a loan at a cost on a par with commercial loans, then forget it. We can do that by ourselves. Why do you try to dictate to us? If you can't give us interest rates [that are similar] to AAA countries, forget it, because you will just disrupt our economy," the minister added.
