Indonesia's central bank opens office in Beijing

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Indonesia’s central bank has opened an office in Beijing in an effort to strengthen ties with China.

Arief Hartawan, the chief representative of Bank Indonesia in the Chinese capital, views the move as crucial in his country's vision to become the economic driver of Southeast Asia. Its economy is already expanding rapidly as is China's.

“We have seen that China’s economy is growing very fast," he said. "Bank Indonesia wants to make a mark, not just regionally, but globally as well. We can see that People’s Bank of China plays an important role regionally. We hope to learn and replicate China’s success and hopefully implement it here in Indonesia.”

CGTN Photo

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has made it his top priority to create a better investment environment for foreign investors, resulting in China being one of Indonesia’s biggest investors. As of 2017, direct investment from China reached 1.6 billion US dollars.

Many Chinese investors are interested in sectors such as infrastructure, manufacturing and mining. According to economist Bhima Yudhistira, the presence of Chinese investors in Indonesia could help the country reach its economic potential even sooner than expected.

“This is an important era when our President Mr Jokowi has increased the budget in infrastructure," Bhima said. "Building infrastructure means more prosperity, decreasing level of poverty and more equal growth from both sides, Indonesia and China.”

The opening of Bank Indonesia in Beijing marks the bank’s fifth representative office abroad.

“In 2017, Indonesia’s export to China increased around 40 percent year on year. So we appreciate this move to open an office in Beijing. Hopefully in the future, Bank Indonesia and PBOC have a strong relationship to maintain the financial stability and to increase the growth between Indonesia and China,” Bhima said.