A cash injection of this scale from the finance ministry is unprecedented, underlining Purbaya’s quest for a quick fix to what he said was a “drought” in the financial system that’s choked activity in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
Indonesia’s new finance minister wants to immediately flood the economy with roughly US$12 billion in cash to jump-start lending, proving his commitment to President Prabowo Subianto’s growth agenda barely three days into the job.
The government will transfer half of the 400 trillion rupiah in cash reserves that it holds with the central bank to state-owned lenders, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa told lawmakers in a hearing on Wednesday. He added on Thursday that the cash injection would be done “soon” and deployed all at once to banks.
