Our foreign private loans problem<\/p>\n
Neither Ginandjar Kartasasmita nor Radius Prawiro -- the two
\neconomists appointed, first by the previous regime's Seventh
\nDevelopment Cabinet and then by the present Reform Development
\nCabinet, to tackle Indonesia's private offshore debt problem --
\ncould hide the relieve they felt (over the rescheduling
\narrangement reached with foreign lenders). To (business expert)
\nA.A. Baramuli, though, things looked different. He questioned the
\ncapability of any of the country's private companies to pay an
\nestimated US$15 billion a year in interest only, even though they
\ncould make the payment in the rupiah currency equivalent.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the government's intervention in the problem of this
\ncountry's private corporate debts owed to foreign banks raises
\nquestions, even though the government has assured that it will
\nnot bail out private companies. By intervening in our private
\nsector's debt problems, the government is also putting its own
\ncredibility at risk. According to the chairman of the Indonesian
\nChamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Imam Taufik, this move
\ncould diminish foreign trust in the government -- a most
\nimportant consideration in luring back foreign investors to
\nIndonesia. Another problem is that private sector borrowers in
\nthis country might already transferred their money overseas.<\/p>\n
What the public in general fears is that our private borrowers
\nmight simply refuse to repay their debts and wait until the
\nsituation here has returned to normal. They might then change
\nboth their names and their citizenships and become investors
\n\"with an interest in investing in Indonesia\".<\/p>\n
The Indonesian people would thus remain the milching cows of
\ninternational rogues making use of both the ignorance of our
\npeople and the disposition of those of our leaders who, in the
\nwords of (Indonesian sociologist) Prof. Selo Soemardjan, are
\ngreedy and indifferent to the interests of our people.<\/p>\n
-- Merdeka, Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/our-foreign-private-loans-problem-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }