Jakarta. Indonesia has just become the newest full member of the BRICS grouping. Unlike the OECD which Jakarta is also pursuing, BRICS does not require its members to pay a certain amount of money, according to a presidential advisor.

Indonesia is now the 10th member of BRICS which originally brought together Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The group expanded to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last year.

Jakarta has vowed to become an active member of BRICS and plans on using it as a platform to make sure that the voices of developing economies are heard. According to Mari Elka Pangestu, who advises President Prabowo Subianto on economic affairs, BRICS currently does not require its members to fund its operations. But still, Indonesia is aware that it might have to set aside a portion of the state budget, including the ministry that will be in charge of the payments, in case the alliance finally decides to charge its members.

“As soon as we become a member of an organization, of course we should have someone in the government to take care of the budget. BRICS does not have membership dues yet,” Mari Elka told reporters at the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday evening.

“But if they choose to have membership dues one day, perhaps it will be the Foreign Affairs Ministry that will deal with the funding matters. Or usually, it will be a combination of the foreign affairs and finance ministries, as well as the coordinating ministry for economic affairs,” she added.

It only took less than 3 months for Indonesia to officially join BRICS. Indonesia applied to the group as soon as President Prabowo Subianto assumed power in late October. 

At the same time, Indonesia is still trying to secure a seat at the Organization of Cooperation and Development (OECD). This rich-country club is known to have rigorous membership standards. Indonesia aims to become a full-fledged OECD member by 2027. However, it can take 7 years for an OECD candidate member to officially be part of the club. Indonesia's accession process to the OECD began last year. 

OECD’s Secretary-General Mathias Cormann had said that he did not mind that Indonesia was also seeking BRICS. He had also told Indonesia to not rush with the accession process, citing that Jakarta should focus on getting the regulatory reforms right to meet OECD’s standards.

The OECD is funded by its members’ financial contributions, split into the so-called Part I and Part II budgets. The Part I budget is shared equally among member countries within a scale that is proportional to the relative size of their economies. The Part I budget for 2024 stands at 229.9 million euros or approximately $238 million. The US becomes the largest contributor, making up about 18.3 percent of the money, followed by Japan with 8.5 percent.

OECD’s Part II budget, on the other hand, covers programs that are of interest to a limited number of members. The funding is based on the scales of contributions or other agreements among the participating economies. Last year, the Part II budget totaled 122.1 million euros. This brought the combined budget to 352 million euros.

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