Indonesia next aid target: Exim Bank<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (Dow Jones): The president of the Export-Import Bank
\nof the U.S. said yesterday he saw no reason why the U.S.
\ngovernment agency shouldn't help out ailing Indonesian companies
\n\"when we've worked out the mechanics.\"<\/p>\n
James Harmon ended a two-week tour of Asia in Bangkok Friday
\nby signing a US$1 billion package to help support U.S. exports to
\nThailand and said the bank would now point its sights on
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
\"Even with all the problems in Indonesia (a support package)
\ncould be done in a creditworthy manner,\" Harmon told a news
\nconference.<\/p>\n
\"I think the government of Indonesia on a sovereign basis and
\nin the short term would be creditworthy,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The Exim Bank provides loans, guarantees and other support to
\noverseas countries that want to buy U.S. exports.<\/p>\n
Harmon said the bank had announced a $1 billion package in May
\nto guarantee short-term loans to Indonesian importers of U.S. raw
\nmaterials for re-export but that the deal had fallen through
\nafter the change of government in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The package announced for Thailand Friday would also guarantee
\n$1 billion in loans of up to a year to Thai importers who find it
\nhard to raise credit in the private sector in the current
\neconomic climate.<\/p>\n
Harmon signaled that the ExIm Bank could extend its short-term
\nloan guarantees to the crisis-hit East Asian region in the near
\nfuture.<\/p>\n
He added that a package announced in June to extend loan
\nguarantees to South Korean companies from $1 billion to $3
\nbillion \"could be finalized in the next week\".<\/p>\n
\"There's a lot of pain (in Asia). We want to do everything we
\ncan to be helpful. We want to be supportive to Asia in difficult
\ntimes,\" Harmon said, adding that this was the first time in years
\nthe region had turned to credit export agencies to back short-
\nterm loans.<\/p>\n
Thailand was the last stop in Harmon's tour of Asia to help
\npromote demand for U.S exports, which has dried up since the
\nbursting of the region's economic bubble a year ago.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesia-next-aid-target-exim-bank-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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