Part of Jakarta capital city of Indonesia (Photo: Reuters)Jakarta (VNA) – The AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB) has pledged to double loan commitments to Indonesiathis year to facilitate economic recovery in one of its biggest clientcountries.
ADB Country Director Winfried F. Wicklein said on August 19that the bank usually commits 1 billion USD to 2 billion USD each year forIndonesia, mostly in infrastructure projects, particularly those related toenergy.
However, in the face of COVID-19, ADB is stepping up insupport and will more than double it this year, he said during a webinar heldby state-owned geothermal energy company PT Geo Dipa Energi and infrastructurefinancing guarantee agency PT Penjaminan Infrastruktur Indonesia.
He also called on the Indonesian government to invest inrenewable energy as part of the country’s economic recovery plans. ADB isparticularly supportive of geothermal power, which the Manila-based lenderconsiders ideal to spur even growth across the archipelago.
ADB, a self-described leading financier of geothermalprojects in Indonesia, recently approved 300 million USD to expand geothermalpower plants in Dieng of Central Java province and Patuha of West Java province.
ADB adds to a list of organisations, including theParis-based International Energy Agency (IEA) and Jakarta-based Institute forEssential Services Reform (IESR), that have explicitly called for theIndonesian government to invest in a green economic recovery.
Indonesia, which holds the world’s largest known geothermalreserves, only harnessed 8.9 percent of its total 23.9 gigawatts of geothermalpotential last year, according to official data./.
VNA
