APEC supports immediate aid for Indonesia<\/p>\n
KANANASKIS, Alberta (Agencies): Asia Pacific Economic
\nCooperation (APEC) finance ministers unanimously agreed the next
\ndisbursement of International Monetary Fund (IMF) aid to
\nIndonesia shouldn't be delayed \"unduly,\" Canadian Finance
\nMinister Paul Martin said Saturday.<\/p>\n
Martin said that while the ministers agreed at a meeting
\nSaturday that the next $1-billion tranche from the IMF's $10-
\nbillion standby facility for Indonesia should be released as soon
\nas possible, the IMF needs to be sure that the new Indonesian
\ngovernment will pursue economic reform.<\/p>\n
\"Nobody wants to delay unduly, and everybody wants to ensure
\nthat when the funds are advanced, they will have the maximum
\neffect,\" Martin said.<\/p>\n
He said comments made during the meeting showed the ministers
\nwant the funds to be released \"in a timely way, as soon as
\npossible.\"<\/p>\n
IMF officials last week postponed an early-June board meeting
\nduring which release of the next tranche of a $10-billion standby
\ncredit facility to Indonesia was to have been voted on.<\/p>\n
The announcement that the vote on the $1-billion tranche had
\nbeen delayed followed widespread anti-government protests and an
\noutbreak of violence in Jakarta, which led to the resignation of
\nSoeharto Thursday and B.J. Habibie's appointment to succeed him
\nas president.<\/p>\n
Martin acknowledged that while some ministers called for an
\nimmediate disbursement of the IMF funds, others cautioned that
\nthe situation should be monitored more closely. However, he said
\nsuch differences \"were easily reconciled.\"<\/p>\n
The potential for a prolonged delay irks Jakarta's immediate
\nneighbors, who worry economic conditions in Indonesia could
\nworsen and unleash a flood of refugees to their shores.<\/p>\n
\"The United States has the time and the luxury to wait, but I
\nthink, considering Indonesia, (that) it's not fair, not
\nacceptable, not just, for a country that has undergone such a
\ntraumatic experience,\" said Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister and
\nFinance Minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim.<\/p>\n
Anwar also said he will urge the leaders of the IMF, World
\nBank and Asian Development Bank to support Habibie. He said it
\nwouldn't be fair to press Indonesia to do more at this time and
\nurged officials \"not to frustrate the changes that are taking
\nplace.\"<\/p>\n
Japan, whose Finance Minister Hikaru Matsunaga came under fire
\nonce again for his own country's weak economy, agreed. \"One month
\nis a limit. They (Indonesia) cannot wait any longer than that,\" a
\nJapanese official said.<\/p>\n
Martin said the IMF \"... is in the process of monitoring the
\nsituation in Indonesia. The Fund has been encouraged to
\nrecommence the structural loan program as quickly as possible,
\nand I think there is renewed confidence in a number of the
\nmeasures and in the members of the new cabinet that have been put
\nin place.<\/p>\n
\"But I think that at the same time we mean to make sure that
\nthose reforms are going to be put in place and that the situation
\nevolves in a way that it should,\" he added.<\/p>\n
He said measuring the extent of Indonesia's political
\nstability as a condition for resumption of the IMF lending
\nprogram was \"really a judgment call....\"<\/p>\n
He said it is \"very clear that economic reforms without
\npolitical reforms and the (implementation) of a strong social
\npackage is simply not going to last.\"<\/p>\n
The APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong
\nKong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New
\nZealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan,
\nThailand and the United States. Peru, Russia, and Vietnam are
\nobservers and will join APEC later this year.<\/p>\n
Photo -- Page 8<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/apec-supports-immediate-aid-for-indonesia-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }