ADB readies $855m loans for RI
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Tuesday it planned to approve US$855 million in project-related loans for Indonesia, and expected to disburse another $350 million by late May.
The ADB also said it was offering $18.3 million in grants tied to 28 technical assistance programs, five of which already had been approved.
The bank's principal program officer here, Shiladitya Chatterjee, said the $855 million in loans were pending approval by the ADB board, and would be used to finance nine projects.
He gave no time frame on the release of the loans, but said it could stretch over a period of more than two years.
The loans would fund projects related to coral reef rehabilitation and management; improving the welfare of farmers; non-bank financial governance programs; small and medium enterprise export development; outer-island electrification; urban poverty reduction; water supply and sanitation; improving local governments' capacity for decentralization; and the participatory irrigation sector.
The technical assistance programs planned for this year include programs to support decentralization, good governance and anticorruption campaigns, poverty reduction and gender equity.
ADB director for Indonesia, Jan PM van Heeswijk, said another $350 million could be disbursed as soon as late May, once the ADB board gave its approval.
He said the $350 million was part of the financial aid offered in 1998 to shore up Indonesia's balance of payment, which was hit by mass capital outflow at the height of the 1997 financial crisis.
ADB has been withholding the loans since Indonesia fell short of meeting certain conditions, one of which was the passage of an antimoney laundering law, he said.
"ADB is reviewing the content of the law to see if it complies with international principles; if so we will inform the board," he said.
Indonesia also is expecting the release of approximately $400 million from the International Monetary Fund, pending the approval of its board.