, Columnist
Indonesia’s Debt Binge Takes a Leaf From China
The country needs better infrastructure, but it's adopted a dangerous financing model.
Who’s left holding the baby?
Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg
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Indonesia was never keen to be part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. That hasn’t stopped it from embracing the Chinese way when it comes to financing roads and railways.
The government of President Joko Widodo plans to spend more than $400 billion building airports, power plants and other infrastructure in the next five years, Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told Harry Suhartono and Karlis Salna of Bloomberg News in an interview last week. That’s even more than the Indonesian record of $350 billion that Jokowi, as he’s known, targeted in his first term.