Bacelius replaces Laksamana as chief of JITF
Bacelius replaces Laksamana as chief of JITF
JAKARTA (JP): The government has appointed Bacelius Ruru to
head the Jakarta Initiative Task Force (JITF), newly appointed
State Minister of Investment and State Enterprises Development
Rozy Munir said on Thursday.
He added that Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Finance
and Industry Kwik Kian Gie signed the letter of appointment.
Speaking following a meeting of senior economic ministers, he
said Bacelius replaced Laksamana Sukardi.
Laksamana stepped down from JITF after he was dismissed on
Monday by President Abdurrahman Wahid as the state minister for
investment and state enterprises development.
Laksamana was only recently named to the JITF position.
Bacelius, a senior official in the Office of the State
Minister of Investment and State Enterprises Development, is also
a former chief of the Capital Market Supervisory Agency
(Bapepam).
The government established JITF in early 1998 to facilitate
the restructuring of the country's corporate debts, including the
huge amount of overseas debts.
The government has said that more than US$20 billion in
corporate overseas debt was expected to mature this year.
Failure to resolve the debt overhang would hamper recovery of
the country's crisis-hit economy.
Laksamana said recently that JITF put in place various
programs to help accelerate the restructuring process of the
corporate debt, including tax incentives and other facilities to
encourage debtors and creditors to seek restructuring deals.
He also said he expected to be able to reach a restructuring
deal for more than US$10 billion worth of corporate overseas debt
this year.
Separately, Rozy vowed that he would accelerate the
privatization of state companies this year in a bid to help raise
more than Rp 6 trillion in revenues for the 2000 state budget.
He said pharmaceutical firm PT Indopharma, airport operator PT
Angkasa Pura II, plantation firm PT Perkebunan Nusantara IV,
fertilizer producer PT Pupuk Kaltim and coal mining firm PT
Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam were among the state-owned companies
which would be privatized this year.(rei)