Indonesia looking for new capital investors

Seeking funds: Jokowi admiring the sunrise in East Kalimantan where the government will build its new capital city replacing Jakarta. Indonesia is in talks with the UAE to fund the multi-billion dollar project. — AFP

JAKARTA: The Indonesian government is scrambling to find new investors for its multi-billion dollar new capital city project following the exit of Japan’s Softbank Group. Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan said on Thursday that the government was turning to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to fill the funding gap.

The government was hoping to win over the UAE and Saudi Arabia for funds that were initially earmarked for Softbank’s Vision Fund, but that SoftBank had slashed following troubles over some of the group’s portfolio companies.