Settlement of external debts through the UN recommended<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Settlement of developing countries'
\nexternal debts should be integrated with the programs of
\ninternational institutions under the United Nations (UN), high-
\nranking officials said here yesterday.<\/p>\n
Emil Salim, chairman of the economic team of the Non-Aligned
\nMovement (NAM), told newsmen yesterday that the United Nations
\nDevelopment Program (UNDP) will help solve the external debts of
\ndeveloping countries.<\/p>\n
\"The administrator of the UNDP, Gussputh, has agreed to
\ncoordinate related institutions under the UN to revise the
\nagenda, where debt problems are discussed,\" Emil Salim told
\njournalists after reporting to President Soeharto about his trips
\nto a number of countries to convey the results of the NAM's
\nministerial meeting on external debts, which was conducted here
\nlast month.<\/p>\n
Emil was accompanied by Minister\/State Secretary Moerdiono,
\nCoordinating Minister for Economy and Finance Saleh Afiff, and
\nthe government's economic adviser Widjojo Nitisastro in
\nyesterday's meeting with Soeharto, the current chairman of NAM.<\/p>\n
Last month, ministers of 31 least-developed NAM countries met
\nhere to discuss the most appropriate approach for solving the
\ndebt crises. They ended their three-day meeting with a call for a
\n70-percent exemption of the external debts of least-developed
\nnations.<\/p>\n
Emil Salim noted that the UNDP welcomed the results of the
\nJakarta meeting and promised to use them as a reference in
\nrevising the agency's agenda.<\/p>\n
He said that the appeal of the Jakarta meeting is that it was
\nrational in that a number of countries truly cannot pay their
\ndebts and even continue to wrangle in debt traps.<\/p>\n
\"Aid given to least-developed countries to pay their debts
\ncannot solve their debt problems comprehensively ... as their
\nbuying power will be declining,\" he said. \"Well, developed
\ncountries can channel their aid but least-developed countries
\nwill continue to sink.\"<\/p>\n
Moerdiono noted that there are at least 58 heavily indebted
\ncountries, of which 32 are least-developed countries. The actual
\narrears of the 32 countries were much larger than the 20 percent
\nthreshold: 91 percent had arrears exceeding 50 percent, half had
\narrears exceeding 86.7 percent and 39 percent had arrears in
\nexcess of 90 percent.<\/p>\n
The total of long-term debts of those countries in 1992
\namounted to US$247.6 billion, 26 percent of which was owed to
\nmultilateral financial institutions, 49 percent to governments
\nand their agencies and 24 percent to private creditors. (rid)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/settlement-of-external-debts-through-the-un-recommended-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}