BI places $500m at 5 foreign banks

JAKARTA (JP): Bank Indonesia has placed US$100 million at each of five foreign banks as a guarantee for letters of credits (L/Cs) issued by local state banks.

Bank Indonesia director of monetary and economic statistics, Miranda S. Goeltom, said yesterday the five foreign banks were ABN Amro, Standard Chartered, Bank of America, Citibank and Deutsche Bank. They would all confirm locally issued L/Cs.

"We will soon sign bilateral agreements with Chase Manhattan Bank, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. and American Express Bank for the same purposes," she said.

She said the central bank had issued directives on the implementation of the guarantee to state banks on March 16. And therefore, exporters wanting to import raw materials could now open L/Cs with state banks. (rid)