Indonesia is working towards a US dollar-denominated “green”, sukuk bond, Indonesia’s finance minister said on Monday.
“I think it is very good feedback from bond investors and when the time is right we will bring the issue with the right size as well as the right structure,” Sri Mulyani Indrawati told Reuters. 
Asked whether it was imminent, she replied.”We’ll see, we’ll see.”
The US needs to resist protectionist trade measures that could “ruin the world” and destroy progress made in reducing global poverty, Indrawati said. She told Reuters she remained optimistic recent US tariffs affecting other major Asian economies would not turn into a tit-for-tat trade war as open trade had been the big driver in reducing poverty over the last 30 years.
“That is why you don’t want to ruin the world,” Indrawati said about US protectionism. “It could be one or two practices you want to correct, but don’t destroy the achievement that is already remarkable — and that is good for the United States and good for the world.”
She also commented on the dollar’s decline.
The world’s dominant currency is in its biggest slide since 2010-2011 and the fall accelerated last week when US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the weakness had its advantages.
“The US dollar, should be reflecting the fundamentals of their economy. It’s not going to be a tool to boosting of their competitiveness,” Indrawati said.
Referring back to the issue of trade protectionism she added: “We are hoping, as President Trump said, that ‘America First’ does not mean America alone.”
About 16% of Indonesia’s trade is directly with the US, though it also has an indirect exposure through other trading partners like nearby Singapore and Japan.
Indrawati was in London to help launch the second “komodo” bond, a rupiah denominated bond sold in international debt markets rather than in Jakarta and named after the large, aggressive lizard found only in Indonesia.
This one was from state-owned infrastructure and procurement firm, Wijaya Karya, which raised 5.4tn rupiah ($404.13mn) as part of the government’s plans to get its firms to broaden their sources of financing.