JAKARTA: Indonesia is prepared to contribute at least $300 million to a new Islamic infrastructure bank that the Southeast Asian nation will co-found with Turkey and a Saudi-based multilateral lender, the country’s finance minister said on Tuesday.

The idea for the proposed bank comes as Asian nations seek to boost cross-border lending for infrastructure, with China taking the lead with its Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Improving Indonesia’s creaking infrastructure is one of President Joko Widodo’s main priorities. In his first budget in February, Widodo allocated $21.96 billion for capital spending.

Both Indonesia and Turkey have pledged to put at least $300m into the bank. It was not immediately clear how much the IDB would contribute.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2015

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