ADB Plans $218 Million Loan for Indonesia’s Food and Drug Oversight
Makassar. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) plans to deploy a $218 million loan to bolster Indonesia’s food and drug oversight, among other areas, by building new, eco-friendly testing laboratories.
BPOM, which supervises food and over-the-counter medicines sold in the market, will be the main focus of the financing.
The multilateral development bank is currently ironing out the details, but its recent press tour to BBPOM Makassar — the agency’s branch in the Southern Sulawesi capital — revealed what was in the pipeline.
BBPOM Makassar head Yosef Dwi Irwan Prakasa Setiawan told reporters that about Rp 50 billion (almost $2.8 million) worth of the ADB money would be used to bankroll the construction of a green laboratory.
“We have been intending to construct a green lab since 2024, but we had to pause the plan due to [the government’s] budget austerity measures. We eventually got ADB’s backing to build a lab that can unlock more efficient energy use,” Yosef said.
The project will sit on an already available “clean and clear” 3,300-square-meter plot of land that sits right next to the existing facility. BBPOM Makassar expects the laboratory to improve the efficiency of electricity and water consumption by 25%.
Aside from being environmentally friendly, this lab can boost the testing capacity from 86.4% to 95.5%. It will only take 5 working days to complete the test, compared to the current 8-day waiting time. The capacity of the third-sample testing will go up from 92% to 95%. The Rp 50 billion ADB money also includes getting BBPOM Makassar its urgently needed equipment.
The $218 million loan will see the construction of 37 BPOM labs across the country.
If everything goes according to plan, the latest package will increase Indonesia’s debt.
As of April 2026, ADB’s commitments — including public loans, grants, and technical assistance — in Indonesia totaled $50.6 billion. The Manila-based lender’s country director for Indonesia, Bobur Alimov, told reporters of Jakarta’s “very strong macroeconomic fundamentals”.
“There is no doubt ever about [Indonesia’s] ability to repay.”
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