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)